


A Chance To Change

by GachMoBrea



Series: Fostering Strength [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: "Get You Act Together" - Talks, & so can Barry, 'We Are Family', (But it's off screen), (sorry), AU, Alternate Universe, Angst, Awesome!Joe, Bad guys, Barry & Iris Defend Len, Barry gets angry, Barry is a bit of a nerd?, BigBrother!Len, But probably not Iris, Deep Conversations, Domestic Fluff, Drama, Fake Police Procedures, Family Dinner, Fighting, Foster System, GUN!, Gen, Hospitals, Hostage Situation, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Injured!Len, Internet, Iris & Barry are very happy & energetic Teenagers, Iris has bad table manners, Joe will never have a "normal" life again, Len can Cook, Len is VERY quiet, Len is starting to 'break out' of his shell?, Lewis is BAD, Manipulating "the system" to fit MY needs..., Military Programs, Minor Character Death, Missile Plans, OOC, Or even a day of "normal", Poor Joe!, Prison Escape, Protective!Barry, Protective!Family, Protective!Iris, Protective!Joe, Real (Fake) Military People, Scolding, Secret Cases, Sneaking Out, Some Fluff, Suspense, Teenage!Barry, Teenage!Iris, Teenage!Len, The End?, Threats with a Pipe, Undescriptive CoWorkers, Vague Community Service, What if... Joe met Leonard sooner?, Work In Progress, anger issues, breaking rules, but that was obvious, code names, glares, oh my, protective!Len, quotes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-07-28 14:45:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 31,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7645093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GachMoBrea/pseuds/GachMoBrea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I have a suggestion for a future one: make Barry and Snart a lot-a-bit closer in age and have Joe foster both and Iris for like a month or something. Like Lewis got busted and Lenny is trying to run away and find Lisa's foster home while Joe is trying to keep him from doing juvenile stunts." [TheValdezTARDIS]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheValdezTARDIS](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheValdezTARDIS/gifts).



> Since I was re-doing their ages, I thought I should re-write the beginning a little too. Oddly(?) enough, I had started to re-write this idea, but stopped myself when it started going in the wrong direction. So, I took some pieces from that work and put it here.  
> Not that you'd know that. I have no idea why I wasted so much of your time prattling on like an idiot.  
> Any monkey's pants, this is what my muse says you meant even though I argued with it that I thought it was wrong. (I never win those arguments...)

Police Officer Joe West frowned in the passenger seat of the police cruiser. He was riding with his partner to provide backup for the arrest of a dirty cop. Joe still couldn't believe it. The boisterous, 'let me buy you a beer' Lewis Snart had done the unthinkable. He had gone against his oath, against the badge he wore, to steal some green rock of a gem. The theft was expertly done, but then the idiot turned around and tried to sell it to an undercover cop! Now Joe, his partner, the investigating detectives and two other officers are going to Snart's house to arrest the man and collect evidence against him.  
The building stands dismally in front of Joe. It almost feels like a nightmare when he gets out of the car with his partner and approaches the building behind the two other officers and detective.  
"Lewis Snart, you are under arrest for the theft..." the two other officers read Lewis his rights as they take him to their cruiser. A flash catches Joe's attention and he belatedly realizes there's a reporter on the premises. The fact that the story might make front page news only worsens the situation.  
Steeling himself for the crying of Mrs. Snart, Joe follows his partner into the house to search for evidence. They find the plans for the bank in the basement. Poor man didn't even have the mind to get rid of such solid evidence. He was a cop! Didn't he know?  
But, then again, he 'was a cop'. He shouldn't have resorted to theft in the first place.

"What are you doing?"  
Joe turns to the small voice and finds it belongs to a young boy with bright blue eyes.  
"Hey, there," Joe waves to his partner to go without him as he crouches down in front of what must be Snart's kid. "What's your name?"  
"I'm Leo," the boy answers, eyes large and frightened. "Why are you taking my dad away?"  
"Well, Leo," Joe sighs, deciding in a second whether it's be better to lie to the kid or not. "You're dad took something that didn't belong to him."  
"So?" Leo frowns. "I took the last cookie in the jar last night. Mom went looking for it to have with her tea but I had already eaten it. Does that mean I have to go away too?"  
"No," Joe shakes his head. "But-"  
"I say I'm sorry when I get in trouble," Leo interrupts him. "I say I'm sorry and mom forgives me. Can't dad say he's sorry too?"  
"This isn't the same as stolen cookies, Leo. You're dad took something very valuable and he wasn't going to give it back. He wasn't going to say he was sorry," Joe places his hand on the boy's shoulder. "When people do the wrong thing, they have to pay for it. Your dad will go away for a while, but he'll come back."  
"Will he still be my dad?" Leo's eyes are a little watery. He's squeezing the little toy bear in his hands so tightly Joe is surprised he hasn't torn the thing in half.  
"He'll always be your dad, Leo," Joe tries to supply comfort.  
"West!" one of the detectives barks. "Get a move on! We're done here."  
With one last comforting smile, Joe straightens back to his full height and leaves the Snart house.

\---

Officer West never thought he'd see young Leo Snart again.  
Detective West was mistaken. 

\---


	2. Chapter 2

(10 years later.)

"Caught the kid who's been knocking off the convenience stores," an officer brings a young man to Joe's desk and pushes him into the chair there. "His partner got away, but I doubt he'll be too hard to find."  
"Name?" Joe takes the paperwork for the arrest and looks to the arrested and arrestor for an answer.  
"Kid doesn't have his ID on him," the officer shrugs. "His prints are being run now. You should get the results sent to your computer soon."  
"Thanks," Joe dismisses the officer with a smile. "I've got it from here."  
Once the arresting officer has gone, the detective turns his attention to the teenager seated next to him.  
"So," Joe folds his fingers on the top of his desk. "You wanna tell me your name, or should we wait for the report to come in?"  
Icy blue eyes point straight forward. The kid keeps his expression blank like a soldier, jaw visibly clenched tight under the skin.  
"Fine," Joe shrugs. "The only thing your silence changes is how fast you get processed."

A few minutes later, Joe pulls up the results of the fingerprints. After reading the name he finds himself staring blankly at the screen, the rest of the report blurring in his vision.  
"Leonard Snart," he says after a moment to pull himself together. "As in Lewis Snart's kid?"  
The kid's eyes narrow at the mention of his father's name, but he keeps them pointed forward.  
"Leo," Joe remembers the name from all those years ago and it slips out of his mouth almost unconsciously.  
"Don't call me that," Leonard bites out, eyes finally turning to glare at the detective.  
"Why are you robbing convenience stores, Leonard?" Joe asks, unaffected by the kid's harsh tone.  
"It was convenient," Leonard intones. Returning his eyes to facing forward. "Can we move this along?"  
Curious, Joe pulls up Lewis Snart. The man is back in prison again for another failed attempt at robbery. He turns a frown to the unconcerned kid cuffed at his desk.  
"Why are you following your father's footsteps, Leonard?" the detective asks. "According to this you're barely 17 years old. Why are you trying your hand at being a criminal?"  
"Why are you asking pointless questions?" Leonard counters, eyes still forwards. "The detective that put me in Juvie wasn't this chatty."  
"Yeah, I saw that," Joe did see it, even though he didn't really read it. "So you liked prison so much you decided to go back?"  
"Food's free," Leonard intones again. 

Joe waits a beat, actually reads the kid's rap sheet and the charges brought up on him.  
"What does your mother think about all this?" he asks after he's read the kid's criminal life story. "I can't imagine she wants her boy running around getting arrested like his pops."  
"Mamma Snart didn't hang around long enough to care," Leonard grounds out through clenched teeth. He turns fierce blue orbs to the detective again. "If you're quite done playing psychiatrist, I'd like to go to my cell now."  
Joe stares back at the intense glare that could peel paint off a wall or freeze a man in his tracks. When-Why-How did the little boy he met that day at the Snart house become such a cold hearted young man with such steele in just his eyes alone?  
"Alright then," Joe clears his throat, takes Leonard to the holding cells and returns to his desk. He's barely sitting before he's up again, grabbing his coat as he goes for the exit. There's a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that's telling him he knows how bright eyes turned icy blue.

\- -

"Here you go, detective," the nurse hands over a thick folder. "One medical report for Leonard Snart. Did you want his sister's too?"  
"He has a sister?" Joe lifts his eyes from the folder to the nurse who nods. "Yes, please. If you would?"  
"No problem for our boys in blue," the nurse winks, returning to the back room where the medical records were kept.   
While she's getting the other folder, Joe peruses the one in front of him.   
Broken bones, burns, lacerations, severe bruising... The more Joe reads the sicker he gets. Then when the nurse hands him the folder for Lisa Snart, it only gets worse.  
It's like he's reading the graphic details of a horror film. So many 'accidents' so close together. Lisa's folder is significantly thinner than Leonard's. In fact, most of her injuries happened during her brother's time in Juvie.  
'He's been protecting her,' Joe realizes, rubbing a hand over his tired face. 'Poor kid.'  
Joe's phone goes off. He fumbles for it and nearly knocks the paperwork on the floor in his haste to get to it.  
"Hello?" he answers. "Who's this?"  
"Hey, daddy!" his daughter, Iris's voice sings through the receiver. "Barry and I wanna know if we can have pizza tonight."  
"Again?" Joe sighs, holding the bulky cell phone against his ear with his shoulder so that he can straighten the folders. "You two do realize that making our own dinner is less expensive and more rewarding, right?"  
"Please, daddy?" he can hear his daughter's pout and he knows he won't be home in time to make dinner himself, so he caves. "Fine, but save me more than one slice this time!"  
"No promises!" the teenager giggles. "Love you!"  
"Love you too," Joe smiles, hanging up from his end. He thinks of his bubbly 14 year-old daughter and meeker, 15 year-old foster son back at home. How grateful he was to have them in his life after losing his wife. After she ran away. Even though Barry came to him through less than ideal circumstances.  
Heaving a heavy sigh, he returns the medical records to the nurse and drives back home. 

 

Iris and Barry are already asleep in their rooms and there's a slice and a half of leftover pizza in the microwave.  
"Cheeky kids," the detective grumbles eating the food quickly before shuffling off to bed. While Joe lay awake that night, waiting for the much needed sleep to take him, his mind kept straying to the Snart's. He vaguely remembers Lewis Snart. His boisterous laughter. The day he was arrested...  
Lisa and Leonard's medical records follow right after. Joe punches the pillow as he rolls to his side. The man didn't deserve to have kids if he was going to treat them that way. No wonder Leonard ended up the way he did. Abuse messed kids up in more than physically.  
Joe decides then and there, as his brain finally settles enough for him to relax into sleep, that he would do something. That he would give the kid something he didn't have growing up.   
A chance to change.

\---


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Joe makes pancakes and Iris pokes fun of Barry as he studies at the table.  
"I'm going to be bringing someone home later today," he tells the teens after he finishes cooking.  
"Oh!" Iris's eyes go big. "Is it a girlfriend? Did you meet someone special at work?"  
Barry looks up through his brown mop of hair to stare curiously at the detective.  
"No, it's not a woman," Joe chuckles at his daughter's enthusiasm. "It's a teenage boy who's going to need a place to stay."  
"How old is he?" Barry asks, marking his book and closing it to give his foster father his full attention.  
"Pretty close to your age," the detective shrugs. "He's seventeen."  
"What's our mystery tenant's name?" Iris asks, forking a rather impressive amount of pancakes and shoving it into her mouth.  
"Don't shovel it in so fast, young lady," Joe scolds gently. "And his name's Leonard Snart."  
"Leonard," Barry's nose scrunches a little in disgust. "That's as bad as Bartholomew."  
Iris swallows her mouthful, "You two can be odd name buddies!"  
"I expect you two to behave when he gets here," the detective points to each teen in turn. "He's already a bit of a bad egg and I don't need you two falling for whatever tricks he's going to pull."  
"You bringing us a kid from Juvie or something, Dad?" Iris asks, surprised, hand poised with another fork full of food close to her mouth.  
"We don't judge people in this house, Iris," her father reminds her. "Everyone deserves a second chance."  
His daughter shrugs, shoving the food into her mouth with a quiet hum.  
"Everybody's got good in them somewhere," Barry offers quietly, putting his book to the side so he can finally dig into his meal.  
"That's the spirit, Barry," Joe smiles warmly at his foster son. "We'll make a proper citizen of Leonard yet."  
"Operation: Get Lenny To Not Be Bad Anymore, is a go!" Iris giggles, hoisting her fork in the air like a sword.

 

When the detective gets to the station he goes straight for Leonard's criminal file. He looks over his history and the judges he came into contact with. Joe figures the chances of the kid getting paroled and it looks slim. Unless he had a character witness or someone to vouch for him.  
Joe dials a judge he knows and respects. It's a hard sell, but he eventually convinces the older man to give young Leonard a chance. He has to call in a few favors to get the second step in his plan to work, but when he finally gets the all clear he finds himself grinning like he won the lottery.  
Now he just had to get the kid to break his bad habit of robbing people.

 

"You posted my bail?" Leonard looks Joe over with a guarded expression. "Why?"  
"Because I see potential in you," the detective answers, signing for the kid's release. "You're under a probationary parole. Which means, that if you so much as wipe your nose wrong you'll be thrown back into juvenile detention to serve out your time."  
"Six months inside," Leonard looks away from the detective. "How scary."  
"Wouldn't you prefer no time?" Joe crosses his arms. "Because if you really do like it in there and are desperate to return, I can take all my hard work back and throw you into the cell you just came from."  
The kid doesn't answer. He merely shrugs and walks passed the detective and towards the exit. He waits at the door for the detective though, which is a positive sign.

 

They get in the car, Len taking the passenger's seat silently as he keeps his eyes pointed out the side window.  
"Before you ask, I've volunteered to be your foster father during your parole," Joe tells the teen as he pulls out of the parking lot. "Is there anything at home you want to pick up before I take you to my place?"  
Leonard remains silent, uninterested in conversation.  
"I couldn't look into your sister's case though," the detective frowns, unhappy about that little fact. "I'm assuming, with your dad being locked up again, that she's in the foster system too?"  
Silence.  
"I've got two teens at home already, so you won't be wanting when it comes to conversation," Joe glances at the face void of emotion sitting next to him. "Not that you seem particularly chatty today."  
"Just waiting for the other shoe to drop," Leonard remarks dryly.  
The detective frowns at that, "What do you mean?"  
"No one is nice for the sake of being nice," the kid says icily, turning his blue eyes to glare at Joe. "So what's in it for you?"  
'This is going to be harder than I thought,' Joe swallows down the uncertainty after looking into the cold eyes of the young man.  
"I just don't like to see people hurting if I can do something about it," he tells the teen evenly.  
"Then close your eyes," Leonard sighs, falling into a silence that Joe can't break for the rest of the car ride to the detective's house.

 

As he drives, Joe's mind goes back to the night he took in Barry. The Allen's were such a wonderful family. They were a tremendous help to Joe when Francine ran off while Iris was still little.  
Then, out of the blue, Henry killed his wife right in front of his own son!  
The poor boy was so traumatized that his mind had made up a "yellow blur" to play the part of the murderer.  
The detective shakes the bad memories away as he pulls into his driveway.  
It was summer vacation for the teens, so he knew that the two would be waiting inside to greet their guest.

Leonard reluctantly gets out of the car when Joe opens the door for him. The kid looks the place over like he's searching for weaknesses in security as he follows the detective to the front door.  
Iris opens the door before Joe can even reach for the handle.  
"Welcome to casa West!" his daughter smiles at the newcomer, arms open wide to invite the other teen in. "We do not supply mints on your pillow but I can guarantee you that there will be no insects in this homey abode."  
"Unless you leave you garbage lying all over the floor of your room again," Barry adds with a shy smile.  
"That was one time!" Iris rolls her eyes dramatically. "You need to get over it!"  
"You're not the one who woke up to an entire ant colony running across your face!" her foster brother points out. "For some reason they went from your trash straight to MY room!"  
By now Joe and Leonard have made it into the house and young miss West has closed the door. She crosses her arms over her chest to address the brunette sitting on the stairs, "I was just far too beautiful for the ants to survive basking in my presence."  
That earns a snort from her foster brother which almost instigates a minor fight, but Joe loudly clears his throat to gain the attention of the two teenagers.  
"This is Leonard," Joe motions to the kid at his side. "He'll be staying with us for a month or so. Depending on how things turn out with his community service."  
Leonard's shoulder's sag slightly at the detective's last words, but his face remains blank.  
"You some military brat or something?" Iris asks with a raised eyebrow.  
"Iris!" her father hisses a warning.  
"Well, he's standing there like some sort of statue!" his daughter defends herself, motioning to the young man with one un-crossed arm. "Should we be calling each other sir and ma'am to make him feel more comfortable?"  
"What sort of ranking would we use?" Barry asks before Joe can counter.  
"Dad's the general, of course," Iris salutes dramatically to her father. "You can be a captain," another salute. "and I'll be a lieutenant."  
She looks to the newcomer and scrunches up her face in thought, "You can be...a commander."  
"A commander is higher ranking than a lieutenant," Barry informs her. "And I don't think a general even goes with that ranking system at all."  
"Guys, this isn't-" Joe tries to cut in, but is interrupted by a huff and dramatic eye roll from his daughter.  
"Fine!" Iris points to Barry, "You can be the commander," she points to Leonard. "You are the Lieutenant," she points to herself, "I'll be captain and Dad is still the general because I say so."  
"Aye, aye, captain," Leonard mumbles under his breath, only Joe catches the words.  
"Barry," the detective feels like all of his energy has been drained from his system. "Could you please bring Leonard up to the guest room?"  
"Sure, Joe," the brunette stands on the stairs and waits for the other boy to follow him before stepping upstairs and to the bedrooms.  
"A military ranking system," Joe grins at his daughter. "Really?"  
"Teenagers need structure in their lives," Iris smiles wide at her father. "Plus, now he knows who to go to first if he wants something."  
"Right," the detective shakes his head in amazement. "He'll go to Barry, then you, then me."  
"That's how this works, daddio," Iris snaps her fingers at her dad.

 

Everything goes smoothly the first night. Leonard settles into his room and even eats dinner with the family. He remains silent throughout the meal, even when Iris pesters him into offering up any detail about himself. Then he goes straight to bed and doesn't make a sound.  
"He's quiet," Iris had whispered when Joe went to tell her good-night.  
"A little too quiet," Barry remarked when the detective did the same for his foster son.

\---


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning, Joe catches Leonard trying to sneak his keys out of his bed side table. Sighing, he pushes the drawer closed and snatches the teenager's wrist before he can bolt from the room.  
When Joe lifts his other hand to rub at his half-asleep face, Leonard flinches. The detective freezes, hand still half way to his face. Steeley blue eyes are staring off to the side and Joe's heart clenches tightly at what the kid thought was going to happen to him.  
"I'm not gonna hit you, Leonard," he tells the kid softly, so as not to spook the young man and in hopes that he'll believe his sincerity. "I've never raised a hand to Iris or Barry. You can ask them yourself."  
Those cold, blue eyes move to glare at Joe, making his heart clench a little tighter.  
"Then let go of my wrist," the kid challenges him.  
Joe does without waiting another second. Leonard steps back, takes the wrist into the other hand as he looks the detective over carefully.  
"Where did you think you were going with my car, Leonard?" Joe asks, voice still soft, as he stares down the teenager.  
"I decided to get some of my things after all," the kid lies easily, a modicum of a smile on the corner or his lips. "Didn't want to wake the general for such a small thing as an extra pair of pants."  
"Well, this general doesn't enjoy having his car taken without permission," Joe finally does rub the sleep out of his eyes. He notices that the kid doesn't flinch that time and he marks that as a win. "I'll take you later, during my lunch break. In the mean time, if you need clothes, ask Barry."  
With a nod, Leonard leaves the room. Joe sags back onto his bed and tries to think of what the kid might really do if he had a set of stolen wheels.  
It certainly wouldn't do him any good to add vehicular theft to his criminal resume.   
Joe will have to keep a tighter leash on the boy if he wanted things to work.

After changing for work, Joe goes to the kitchen and finds all three teens in a glaring contest.  
'Oh, dear,' he sighs inwardly as he approaches the trio.  
"What's going on here?" Joe asks as he steps close enough not to yell.  
"Sh! Gah!" Iris squints her eyes closed tightly before turning a glare to her father. "You made me lose!"  
"What?" the detective's curiosity is cut short by a hard 'shush' from his daughter.  
Leonard and Barry are still locked in a glaring contest and Joe solves the mystery when he realizes neither boy has blinked.  
"A staring contest?" Joe asks, going for the coffee machine. He desperately needed caffeine. "First thing in the morning?"  
"I wanted to make muffins but Barry thought I'd burn the house down and I caught Len smirking and things just happened after that," his daughter explained in a whirlwind of words, eyes glued to the last two contestants. "Barry, don't you dare wuss out on me, boy!"  
"I'm not a boy," the brunette blinks, looking to his foster sister. Belatedly, he realizes what he's done and blushes. "Sorry, Iris."  
"To the victor goes the spoils," Iris sighs, handing over the last chocolate Pop-Tart out of a box to Leonard. The kid takes it with a smirk and pockets it in his coat.

"I've got a mountain of paperwork at my desk," Joe tells the teens as he pours himself a cup of life blood. "And that's only if there aren't any new cases waiting for me when I arrive."  
"When does Len have to start picking trash from the side of the road?" Iris asks, eating cereal straight out of the box. She shrugs at her father's disapproving look. Spouting out with her mouth full, "What?"  
"Leonard starts community service in two days," Joe answers, then takes another swig of his drink. "You three can stay home and abuse your TV privileges while I'm at work. At lunch I'm taking Leonard to his house for some of his things."  
"Oh, we are going to have a re-match!" Iris announces, mouth full of another serving of dry cereal. "I call foul from parental disturbance!"  
"Can you, please, try to use the manners I raised you with, Iris?" Joe scolds his daughter. "Speak before or after you've eaten. That's all I'm asking."  
"You could choke if you're not careful," Barry adds, reaching over to take the box from her. Iris smacks his hand away.  
"It's almost empty," she explains to her foster brother's frown. "Open the other one."  
"Behave," Joe orders, putting his now empty cup in the sink. "I mean it."  
"Commander Iris West ready for duty, sir!" Iris salutes, mouth empty of food that time.  
"At ease," Joe salutes back before leaving.

\- -

The paperwork is easier to do than Joe originally thought and there's only a false alarm case to run after, so he takes his lunch break and goes home to pick up Leonard.

He honks the horn when he gets to the driveway and is surprised when the seventeen year-old comes out of the house and gets in the car without any more prodding.

The trip is quiet, which doesn't surprise Joe, and eventually the familiar Snart household comes looming in front of the detective once more.  
"I can do this on my own," Leonard tells him as he gets out of the vehicle first.  
"And I can trust you not to jump out the back window, because?" Joe scoffs, pocketing the keys as he follows.  
Outside, the house looks almost the same but inside.  
Inside, there are holes in the walls and broken glass in piles on the floor. There's a horrible odor wafting in from the kitchen and living room area, making Joe cough and cover his nose.  
It doesn't appear to bother Leonard. It teenager practically runs up the stairs, Joe following carefully behind, and stops at what must be his room.  
The boy's room is almost pristine in it's tidiness. Everything is 'just so'. Even the garbage is a neat pile in a can by a beat up desk.  
Leonard grabs a bag from his closet and starts emptying the contents of his drawers into it. The drawers are barely halfway full, some are even empty but the kid still checks them before closing them again and going to the next one.  
Feeling a little like he's invading the kid's space a bit too much, and confident that the teenager won't jump out the second story window, Joe decides to look into the room next door.  
The walls are a faded pink color, so he guesses it must be Lisa's room. Unlike her brother, Lisa has clothes, garbage and miscellaneous things tossed all over her room. There are posters of actors on the walls, but most of them were torn in half and re-taped. The dresser drawers are hanging open like a scene in an film where everyone has run off to escape something tragic and they hadn't bothered to tidy up before leaving.  
"I'm ready," Leonard's voice tells Joe from behind, making him spin on the spot to look at the kid. The teenager isn't looking at the detective. He's looking 'through' him, into the room of his younger sister.  
Joe's heart clenches tightly again for the kid as he nods, "Let's go."

 

The detective drops the teenager back at the house and waits for him to go inside before going back to the station. There's another convenience store robbery case waiting for him when he arrives and the officers hesitate around Joe to see if he'll confess to losing his charge.  
"It wasn't Snart," Joe shrugs at their worried looks. "Must've been his partner. Let's get to work people!"  
They go to the scene, do their jobs, but there's no trace of the other kid other than the damage he did to the store's back door and register.

\- -

Joe bring pre-cooked chicken and canned vegetables home for dinner.  
Just as he's about to open the door, there's a loud crash from the other side.  
Heart in his throat, the detective drops his groceries and rushes into the building, hand moving to his personal side-arm in case there was a burglar.  
"Avast ye scallywag of a turnip!" Iris shouts, throwing another couch cushion to her foster brother's head. Barry ducks behind the over turned couch, and grabs his own pillow before popping out from behind his spot to throw it at his enemy.  
"What are you two doing?" Joe stares amazed at the partially grown toddlers in his living room.  
Barry startles in his spot and jumps to his feet, face scarlet in embarrassment. Iris, who had been knocked over by her foster brother's pillow projectile, pops up from where she lands to look worriedly over to her father.  
"Daddy!" Iris waves slightly as she maneuvers around the fallen furniture. "You're home!"  
"I know that, Iris," Joe frowns. "What I don't know is what my kids are doing destroying my living room?"  
"Well, you see," his daughter bites her lower lip nervously. "It started with a movie about some un-dead pirates."  
"And Len kept remarking about how clever Sparrow was even though everyone thought he was an idiot," Barry adds.  
"Then he started insulting the movie," Iris cut in.  
"And then Iris told him to shut up."  
"I did not!"  
"Well, you said to shush or shut it."  
"True," Iris relents with a tilt of her head. "Then when the epic fight scene at the end started we kinda got caught up in the action and started fighting each other."  
"Len is really fast on his feet," Barry compliments the other teen with a small smile. "He grabbed a poker for the fire and used it like a sword and Iris grabbed an umbrella."  
"I broke it, by the way, sorry," his daughter smiles apologetically.  
"Then we were on the couch and it fell over-" Barry picks up again.  
"-and the next thing we know you came walking through the font door," Iris finishes with a shrug. She clasps her hands behind her back and smiles brightly up at her father, "So. How was your day?"  
"Where's Leonard now?" Joe asks first, because the two in front of him are in a LOT of trouble but he needs to prioritize.  
"Here," Leonard walks down the stairs enough for the detective to see him. "I decided to abandon ship early."  
"Deserter," Iris huffs, but she's smiling. "Where did the pirate flag go?"  
Leonard pulls said flag from the back of his pocket and waves it around for all to see.  
"Pirate!" Iris corrects with an accusing finger. "You'll be chilling out in Davy Jones' locker when I'm through with you!"  
"Not till I'm done with you," Joe puts a hand in front of his daughter before she can go after the other teenager. He looks to Barry, "Both of you."  
Both of his kids swallow nervously.

Joe has the two 'pirate enthusiasts' clean up the living room while he and Leonard bring in and prepare dinner. It's actually Joe who does the preparing. Leonard just stares at the flag in his hands as he leans against the counter.

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Movie Note:  
> "Pirates of the Caribbean"


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, Joe's wide yawn is cut short when he notices a few food items missing from his kitchen. The loaf of bread is completely gone and there's no trace of peanut butter or jelly in the cabinets.  
Sighing, the detective assumes Barry or Iris have helped themselves to a midnight feast and he tubs leftovers instead. When his kids come into the kitchen too, they're just as surprised at the lack of bread.  
"I wanted to have toast and eggs this morning," Iris frowns, double checking the bread box as if more bread would appear there by magic if she closed and opened the thing.  
"Maybe Len got really hungry last night?" Barry shrugs, reaching for two bowls since toast was out of the question.  
Joe abandons his mug of happiness on the counter to race up the stairs and to Leonard's room.   
He groans when the door swings open to a teenager-less room.

The detective changes into his work clothes before going back down the stairs.  
"Lieutenant Leonard make a break for it?" Iris asks, trying to make it sound cheery even though she's frowning.  
Joe nods, "Either of you hear anything last night?"  
Both teens shake their heads.  
"Great," the detective sighs, gulping down his coffee as fast as he can without burning his entire throat. He drops the half-empty mug into the sink. "I've gotta try to catch up to him before tomorrow."  
"If he doesn't show up for community service?" Barry asks, looking worried.  
"Then he gets thrown into Juvie," Joe answers angrily. "I'll see you two later!"

 

Joe drives through the neighborhood, then the city, before checking the Snart house.  
There's no sign on Leonard.  
His phone rings as he doubles back to the city.  
"Hello?" he answers one-handedly.  
"You gonna get here soon to look after your newest choice in responsibilities, West?" his boss asks over the phone.  
"Sir?" Joe tries to think about what his chief could be referring to, but draws a blank.  
"Leonard Snart has been waiting here for you for three hours," his boss growls. "I sent him to the break room to keep him out of trouble. When are you gonna come get that kid?"  
"Sorry, sir," Joe frowns, pushing a little harder on the accelerator. "I'm almost there."  
"I ain't your babysitter, West," with that the captain ends the call.  
"What are you doing at the precinct?" Joe mumbles to himself as he drives a little faster to work.

 

Joe is surprised to find Leonard waiting for him in the break room of the CCPD.  
Warily, like he was approaching a snake, Joe walks over to the table the teenager is sitting at and takes the empty chair across from him.  
"What are you doing here, Leonard?" Joe asks when blue eyes turn to look at him.  
"Waiting for you," the teenager shrugs. "I thought this was my first day serving my community to make up for my terrible misdeeds."  
"No you didn't," the detective states, knows even from the even tone of the kid in front of him that he was lying right to his face. "You know it's tomorrow. And even if you didn't, why would you come here, alone, without me?"  
He leans a little closer to the kid and adds, "Why not wait for a ride instead of walking?"  
"I like walking," Leonard smirks ever so slightly.  
"No you don't," Joe narrows his eyes at the kid, looks his face over for any sign of what he might have done unsupervised in a police precinct. "Were you trying to wipe your rap sheet from the computer or something?"  
"You give me far too much credit, detective," Leonard clasps his hands on the table's surface, voice soft and confident. "I just showed up to do what was demanded of me. It's not my fault I got the wrong date."  
'The kid's good,' Joe runs a hand over his face, clasps his hand over his mouth when he finishes as he continues to look the kid over.  
"Okay," the detective smacks his hands onto the table to push himself to his feet. He looms over Leonard a little, "I'm going to pretend that you aren't lying to me and let you walk out of here on one condition."  
Leonard tilts his head as a signal for the older man to continue.  
"You have to make dinner tonight," Joe smiles at the small look of surprise he gets out of teen before he masks it over. "I'm thinking something easy like, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches."  
The teenager looks away from the detective, face resolutely looking forward.  
"And I think you know exactly where to go to get some stolen supplies," Joe adds with a grin.

He takes the kid back to the house and walks him to the door to make sure he gets inside.  
Iris runs down the stairs when she hears the front door open and looks like she's going to say something, but Leonard pushes passed her and goes straight to his room.  
"Touchy guy," his daughter frowns, looking over to her dad. "Is he going back to jail?"  
"Would he be here if he was?" Joe lifts an eyebrow, watching the realization of how redundant her question was wash over his daughter's face. "No, he's still staying here, but we'll have to keep an even closer eye on him."  
"Barry and I can take shifts being home to make sure he doesn't do another Houdini," Iris promises. She takes the last few steps to pull her father into a hug, "You're a good man, Daddy."  
"Thanks, baby girl," he hugs her back. "I just hope I'm good enough."

\---


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning, Joe drops Leonard off with the corrections officer in charge of his work station. He gives the officer his cell phone number before quietly warning the teenager to, "Be here when I get back."  
He's not sure if it will help or make things worse, but Joe couldn't help adding the obvious order.

Hours later, after wrapping up a cat-napping and arresting the pointy nosed neighbor responsible, Joe goes back to pick up his wayward teen.  
Leonard is waiting for him at the curb, hands buried deep in the pockets of his orange jumpsuit.  
"Empty them," Joe orders before the kid can even open the door.  
"Excuse me?" Leonard frowns at the order.  
"Your pockets," the detective points to the kid's still hidden hand. "Empty them."  
With a deeper frown, Leonard pulls out two watches, a twenty dollar bill and a wallet.  
"Thought so," Joe gets out of the car to take the items. "Get in. And don't try anything, because I got the keys."  
Leonard silently does as told and Joe brings the items to the officer in charge.  
"He says he found them while cleaning," the detective laughs at his blatant lie. "He figured he could give them to me just as easily as he could you, so."  
Joe shrugs as he walks away; doesn't even allow the officer to make comment or realize the sheer amount of bologna Joe was feeding him.

Once he drives far enough away, the detective decides to give the teenager a piece of his mind.  
"Do you honestly want to go back to prison?" Joe nearly barks, but contains his anger and keeps him tone calm. "I can put bars in your bedroom window if that will make you feel better."  
As per usual, Leonard remains silent.  
Joe goes for another tactic, "Do you love your sister?"  
That earns the detective a sharp glare.   
He's getting somewhere.  
"Do you want to see her again?" Joe adds to his question. He gets a small nod as an answer. He'll take it. "Then I suggest you drop this 'too cool for you' crap you've got going on and seriously think about what you want in life."  
"Is this fatherly prattle going to end in tears?" the teenager turns his eyes away to stare out the window.  
Joe pulls off to the side of the road and slams the car in park.  
Leonard stiffens in his seat and turns wary eyes to the detective.  
"I like to think of myself as an even tempered person, Leonard," Joe starts, frown feeling like a permanent fixture on his face. "But there is only so much I can do for someone determined to mess his life up."  
"Life was messed up for me the minute I was born," Leonard states angrily. "Why should I listen to what some half-whit detective has to say?"  
"Because this 'half-whit' detective has the keys to a castle," Joe opens one hand to demonstrate. He opens the other hand, "Or a jail cell."  
"Life isn't the fairy tale your daughter thinks it is," Leonard grounds out.   
"Iris knows that," the detective stomps down on the protective instincts flaring on his little girl's behalf. "Her mother ran away just like yours did. The only difference is, there was no reason for it."  
"You sure about that?" the kid narrows his eyes, turning his body slightly to hide the fact he was reaching for the door handle.  
"I never hit my wife, Leonard," Joe sighs tiredly, wishing he could convince the kid somehow. "I never laid a hand on her or Iris or even Barry. I told you to talk to them. Heck, I'll even let you read their medical files if you want."  
"You're a detective," Leonard frowns. "You can have things swept under the rug or maybe you just didn't take them to a hospital."  
"So cynical, so young." Joe sighs again. "I can't force you to believe the truth, but that doesn't make it a lie."  
The detective puts the car back into drive and takes them home.  
It's been a long day.

\---


	7. Chapter 7

For two days, Leonard is silent as he goes to and from his community service work.

Joe catches the grouchy teenager smirking and looking almost kindly to Barry and Iris as the two goofed off in the mornings and at dinner.

Then, on the third day, when Joe shows up to get Leonard the officer in charge tells him he isn't there.

\- -

Joe curses wildly as he finds himself repeating his tour through Central City.  
When he still finds nothing at the Snart house, he calls in to the precinct to see if there's anyone waiting for him there.  
No one is.  
Joe parks the car on the side of the road to think.  
Where would young Leonard Snart run off to?  
His dad was still in prison. His sister-Of course!  
Joe drives as quickly as he can back to the CCPD.

It takes several fake smiles, a few lies, and some careful sneaking, but Joe gets his hands on Lisa Snart's file. It has her last known address, which is definitely not her home address meaning it's her foster home address.  
Joe memorizes it then puts the file back and casually walks back to his car.

Joe parks his car a block away, so that his headlight don't attract attention, then he sneaks through the bushes in search of his missing teenager.  
Leonard is crouched at the bottom of window, looking inside with just enough of his face to see. A smile breaks out on his face, making the detective pause.  
It's a kind, genuine smile, something Joe has never seen on the kid's face.  
He must have found his sister.  
'Sometimes I really hate my job,' Joe sighs as he moves as quickly and quietly as he can to where the young man is hiding.  
Leonard turns in time to see the detective clamp a hand over his mouth and drag his struggling body away from the window, through the bushes, and back to his waiting car.  
When he gets back to the vehicle, Joe release's Leonard's mouth and pushes him into the passenger's side door.  
"What's your problem?" Joe hisses before the kid can speak. "Why are you risking everything to sneak out here just to see your sister?"  
"I had to make sure those people were treating her okay," Leonard bites out, cool façade slipping. "The foster system isn't exactly reliable when placing kids with what the state deems as 'trustworthy' adults."  
"And did you satisfy your curiosity?" Joe asks, hands on his hips but ready to reach out if the kid should make a break for it.  
"For now," Leonard nods, expression calming into a blank look Joe was too familiar with.  
"Do not come back here," Joe orders, pushing his finger in the teenager's face and getting into his space. "If you want to be with your sister again like you deserve to be, you will not come here like this again. Do you understand me?"  
Leonard glares at Joe but doesn't answer.  
Joe leans in the tiny amount closer the space between them will allow, "I said, do you understand me?"  
"Yes, sir."

\---

The next few days make Joe's world a little crazier.  
A homicide has him out of the house more than in it and he finds himself relying on his two kids to help him keeps tabs on Leonard.  
Iris is all too eager to add code words and phrases into the mix while Barry simply follows his foster sister's lead.  
Leonard is not always amused.  
"The Lieutenant is on ice for breaking curfew," his daughter informs him as he waits for the results from the lab. "I've allowed him three cookies instead of his potential five to add further punishment."  
"Barry made cookies?" Joe asks, smiling as a young officer brings him the report he needs. He mouth him a 'thank you' before opening the file on his desk. "Where did you guys get the recipe?"  
"Come ON, dad," Iris sighs. "There's, like, thirty cook books crammed into the little space on the counter between the fridge and the wall with the calendar."  
"First off, there are only ten," he corrects with a slight laugh. "And secondly, those are all dinner ideas. There aren't any cookie recipes in those books."  
"Len gave me the recipe," Barry's voice comes on over the line. "Sorry, Iris, you can have it right back."  
"Leonard told you how to make cookies from scratch?" Joe pauses in his perusal of his file to think that over. "I didn't even know the kid knew the difference between sugar and flour."  
"Len's smart, Joe," Barry compliments the other boy unabashed. "You made the right choice bringing him here."  
"Well, thank you, Barry," the detective smiles, feeling a warm sensation at his foster son's approval. "I'm glad someone thinks so."  
"I don't hate him either!" Iris's voice calls out from nearby.  
"Is she talking with her mouth full of cookies?" Joe asks, even though he already knows the answer.  
"Yup."  
He sighs, hanging up before he can understand his daughter's protests.  


\---


	8. Chapter 8

It's midnight when Joe and the officers arrest the murderer. The detective lasts until three o'clock in the morning, processing the perp and filling out paperwork, before his eyes refuse to stay open and he has to call it a night.  
He makes it home without incident and drags his feet to the couch where he promptly passes out.

"You want to give Iris a raise in her allowance..." a voice sing softly into Joe's ear. "You want to give Iris a raise in her al-lowance..."  
"I want to give Iris," he says like a robot, turning to face the owner of the voice before he opens his eyes to see his smiling daughter. "A smack in the rear end."  
"Eek!" Iris runs for it as Joe lazily swings his arm in her direction.  
The siren's call of coffee reaches his nose next and he takes a deep breath of it.  
"Whoever made coffee is officially my favorite," Joe yawns as he shuffles into the kitchen.  
"No fair!" Iris pouts. "Lenny's only been here a few days!"  
Leonard smirks at her as he pours the detective a cup of the aromatic brew.  
"You...made me coffee?" Joe takes the cup on autopilot, brain too foggy from lack of sleep to understand what it was doing.  
"I was up late last night scheming," Leonard smirks slightly, taking out another cup to pour himself his share. "Thought I could at least make enough for two people."  
"Maybe you were scheming," Joe mumbles to himself taking a long sip of his drink. "Well, whatever your reason, I'm glad to benefit from it. Thanks, Leonard."  
"Len, detective," the teen frowns. "I can't stand hearing you call me by my full name all the time."  
"Okay, Len," Joe nods. "You ready to go?" He lifts his watch to check the time and sighs, "We've got about ten minutes before we end up being late."  
"My suit's in the car," Leonard answers, finishing his cup and putting it in the sink. "Barry's still asleep."  
"He was still reading that detective novel when I snuck to-I mean," Iris clears her throat at her father's curious look. "When I got up to use the bathroom last night."  
"What detective novel?" Joe asks, emptying his cup and putting it next to Leonard's. "I thought he was catching up on his science books over the summer?"  
"Barry told Lenny about wanting to be a detective or a CSI when he grew up, so our lieutenant suggested he read about some guy in a deerstalker," Iris frowns at the name. "Who names a hat a 'deerstalker'? That doesn't even make sense!"  
"I told you," Leonard smirks at her. "It's is a type of cap that is typically worn in rural areas, often for hunting, especially deer stalking."  
"Hence the name 'deerstalker'," Joe grins. "Makes sense to me."  
"Well, I still think it's stupid," his daughter huffs. "So I'm going to go buy a sensible hat to make me feel better about it."  
"How is that...?" Joe tries, but Iris has already left the room and run upstairs for her purse.  
"It's best to leave teenage girls alone when it comes to fashion," Leonard offers him quietly. When Joe turns to look at him, the kid lifts an eyebrow, "You're not the type of dad who forces his daughter to change when she comes down with the wrong outfit, are you?"  
"As long as it covers her, I don't care what it looks like," the detective shrugs, thinking back when Iris was 10 and wore nothing but neon colors for a week.  
"You might not be such a bad dad after all."  
It's quiet and Leonard might not have meant for him to hear it, but Joe still smiles as the kid walks passed him to leave.  
"And you might not be such a bad kid either," Joe speaks up so that he knows the teenager can hear him. Len pauses for just a second, then resumes his trek to the car.

\- -

Joe's filling out the report for the man they caught mugging the elderly in Central City park, when he gets a call from Leonard's corrections officer.  
"There's been a fight."  
Joe hands the report over to his partner, claims a family emergency, and drives over to where the teenager does his community service.  
The other orange-clad teens are segregated on the opposite side of the yard where Leonard is sitting, holding an ice pack to his face.  
Joe goes to the officer in charge first.  
"What happened?" he asks, detective instincts kicking in as his eyes dart around for clues.  
"The boys were taking a break, then yours got himself into a fight he couldn't handle," the officer clearly sounds like he's pointing all the blame on Leonard. "You might want to re-think keeping that thing under your roof, Detective West."  
Joe blinks, surprised, at the attitude, "I think I'll be the judge of who, not what, I keep under my roof, 'officer'," he growls the rank a little more than he intended, but his tone visibly puts the man's attitude in check. "Is it okay if I talk with him now?"  
The officer nods, so Joe goes over to Leonard.  
The kid's orange jumpsuit is spotted with blood on the front. Leonard's right eye is glaring at a black haired kid laughing with three of his buddies on the other side of the yard.  
"What happened?" Joe asks him, gently pulling on the arm holding the ice pack so that he can see the bruise already forming on the kid's left eye.  
"I started a fight," Leonard intones. "Didn't you hear the boss tell you that?"  
"I heard what he said happened," the detective jerks his head where the officer is standing. "I'm asking YOU what happened."  
"Doesn't matter," the kid pulls the ice pack back to his face.  
"It matters, Len," Joe moves so that he's the only thing the teenager can see out of his good eye. "I want to know what happened. And I want you to tell me."  
"Boss took a smoke break, even though he brags to everyone about quitting cold turkey," Leonard locks eye with Joe. "Then one of dad's fans got a few of his pals to shove me into a ditch where I twisted my ankle funny. My arms swung out as I fell, hitting the black haired jester. So they pulled me back out to show me my place in this little service station."  
Joe's anger flares with each passing second as Leonard recounts what happened. He lifts the bottom of the kid's pant legs to see that one ankle is clearly larger than the other. When Leonard lowers the ice pack again, he sees some blood crusting around his left nostril; explaining the blood on the jumpsuit.  
"Did you get a hit in?" the detective asks, curious for multiple reasons; a few of them are less than mature.  
"Go the red-head in the nose when he landed a punch to my gut, then the leader in the jaw when he insulted my mother."  
Leonard shrugs at the detective's surprised look, "She might have abandoned us, but she's still my mother."  
"I'm taking you to the hospital," Joe decides, glaring back at the one-eyed ice pick sent his way. "Wait here while I talk to the 'boss'."  
The detective takes in a deep, calming breath as he straightens himself to his full height. He walks right up to the officer in charge and grabs him by the front of his shirt.  
"You left your post to smoke a cigarette and my kid got hurt," he hisses in the man's fear stricken face. "If you try to write him up and pin all the blame on him I will have your job, do you understand me?"  
"Yes, det-detective," the officer swallows after his stutter. "I won't write this up at all. It never happened. Honest!"  
"Good," Joe pushes the younger man away. "I'll call you to let you know if Mr. Snart is coming back here to finish his community service days."  
"Yes, sir," the officer takes a step back. "Absolutely, sir."  
Joe opens the passenger side door before going back for Leonard.  
Gently, he helps the teen get to his feet and acts as a human crutch for the kid as he hops to the car and gets in.  
Then Joe closes the door carefully and slides into the driver's side to leave.

With his left eye swollen, Leonard has to turn his entire body to look at Joe with his good eye.  
"I don't like hospitals," he tells the detective plainly.  
"Too bad," Joe shrugs. "I'm a detective, not a doctor."  
"I can wrap the ankle myself," Leonard tells him. "I only need bandages and ice for the RICE method."  
"The what now?" the detective glances over at the battered kid.  
"Rest, Ice, Compress and Elevate," the teenager ticks off with his right hand fingers. "I've gotten worse from Lewis."  
Joe tightens his grip on the wheel, "Sorry, Len, I'd rather have someone with a fancy piece of paper on the wall tell me you're going to be alright."  
With a small sigh, Leonard leans back in his chair.

A few minutes later, Joe hears the kid say something else, but he can't make it out.  
"What?" he glances a few times at the kid, unsure if he'd repeat himself.  
"Why do you care?" Leonard answers a little louder. "Is this you just looking after 'one of your own' while he's inside?"  
Joe can't help it, he laughs.  
Worried he might cause a traffic accident, he pulls off to the side of the road.  
"You think," the detective shakes his head, turning in his seat to look at the teenager. "You think I'm helping you out because your dad used to be a cop?"  
"'He'll always be your dad.' That's what you said," Leonard bites out, lowering the ice pack and turning to look at the detective. "Why else would you be helping out a brat of a dirty cop if you weren't either friends with him or holding on to some fanciful code of police bothers-in-arms?"  
"So you do remember me," the detective realizes.  
"Kinda hard to forget the day your world turned to crap," the teenager sneers. This is the most emotion Joe's gotten from the kid since he took him in.  
"I was trying to comfort a little boy who watched his father be arrested," Joe explains, tension draining from his body and voice. "I never thought your life would end up the way it did."  
"But your not surprised, right?" Leonard drawls. "Like father, like son?"  
"No."  
Leonard is visibly taken aback by Joe's firm tone.  
"There are plenty of men and women with crappy pasts." The detective's mind fills with examples of people he's met on the job. "Growing up the way you did was terrible, some would say inhumane, but it's up to you to change things. IF you are willing to fight for it."  
"Fight against a stack of cards against me?" Leonard huffs. "Not likely."  
"If you don't think you can do it, no one else will, Leonard," Joe tells him, putting the car back in gear. "The only one who can fight for you is you. I can only cheer from your corner."

They make it to the hospital before Leonard speaks again.  
"You'd pick my side?" he asks quietly.  
"As long as it's the right side," Joe smiles. "I already did once today."  
The teenager straightens a little more in his seat, gives a slight nod as he stares forward, "Then I think it's time for round two."

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know what? I am SICK & TIRED of Len being the sad/hurt/wronged character! That's right! I am going to CHANGE the world for him. CHANGE IT!  
> PREPARE TO BE AMAZED!  
> Leonard Snart is "going to" be happy.  
> Just you wait....and see....
> 
> Book Note:  
> "Sherlock Holmes"  
> Hat Info From:  
> "Wikipedia"


	9. Chapter 9

It's just a bad sprain and the doctor in the emergency room repeats Len's suggestion of the RICE method, which gets Joe a knowing smirk from the injured teen.  
"Nose isn't broken," the doctor adds, offering Leonard an antiseptic wipe to clean the dried blood. "I'll give you something for the pain and swelling, but ice and rest is the best thing for him."  
"Thank you, doctor," Joe smiles at him. The man nods, writing the prescription and handing it to the detective before moving to his next patient; closing the curtain when he leaves.  
"How long will this put you back, you think?" Joe asks casually, trying to decipher the doctor's handwriting.  
"It isn't too bad. Probably a grade one sprain, so 5-14 days," Leonard shrugs, pushing off the medical bed to his good foot, but still wincing slightly when he lands.  
"There are grades for sprains?" the detective asks, moving to grab the crutches a nurse had brought into the room earlier and handing them to the young man.  
"I think there are three, but I've only ever experience one and two," Leonard answers, taking the crutches and slipping them under his armpits. "Grade two sprains can take up 6 weeks to heal."  
Joe doesn't enjoy the fact that he knows 'how' the young man knew about different 'grades' of sprains. He just hoped this incident would be one of the kid's last ones.  
"Let's just hope Barry can hold back Iris's enthusiasm at being your nurse while you're laid up," Joe tries for humor as he opens the curtain for the teen and leads him to the desk where he fills out the medical paperwork and pays for the visit.

 

Joe drops the prescription off at the pharmacy before going home. 

When he opens the passenger side door to help Leonard out, Iris comes running out of the house with a worried look wrinkling her pretty face.  
"Daddy," she gasps. "Lenny! What the he-"  
"Language," Joe scolds his daughter before she can curse. "Where's Barry?"  
"He's in the house on the phone trying to call the station," his daughter rushes to the other teen's side as he struggles to get out of the car. "We've been trying to call you for hours."  
"Right!" Joe smacks his forehead as he remembers, "I turned my phone off in the hospital because this brutish-looking female nurse threatened to take it away if I didn't."  
"I would've gotten it back for you," Leonard comments, finally getting out of the car and leaning on the crutches. "Her pockets were sagging open. All I'd have to do-"  
"Not interested in hearing how to pick pocket an angry nurse, Len," the detective raises a hand to stop the teen. "I'd much rather get you in the house before I get fired for taking the world's longest lunch break."  
"Joe!" Barry comes running out of the house next. He freezes when he sees Leonard. "What happened?"  
"That's what I wanted to know!" Iris growls, hovering behind Leonard as he makes his way towards the house. "Dad says they went to the hospital!"  
"Hospital!" Barry parrots. "Who did this to you, Len?"  
"Yeah!" Iris growls again. "We'll beat their punk be-hinds into next week, won't we Barry?"  
The brunette is already nodding, resuming his path to the other teenager even though he can't help him move any faster.  
"Neither of you are going to do anything other than help Len get comfortable on the couch," Joe orders, slamming the door closed to get the two's attention. "I mean it."  
"But, daddy," Iris pouts. "Look at Lenny's handsome face!"  
"I know, baby girl," the detective sighs, remembering the mottled colors surrounding the young man's left eye. "But we don't fight violence with violence. It only escalates things."  
"Can you arrest them?" Barry asks.  
Leonard has made it up the path and is frowning at the steps leading to the front porch.  
"No," Joe sighs. "And I know how unfair that might seem, but sometimes things happen that the law can't help us with us."  
"Were they other community worker kids?" Iris asks, offering Leonard her arm in case he wants to use it to go up the stairs.  
Leonard shakes his head at the silent offer and hops up the first step.  
"Yes, they were," Joe answers. "But I'm being serious when I tell you to drop this, okay? Going after them angry and without the full story isn't going to help anyone. Especially not Len."  
Leonard makes it up two more steps before one of the crutches slips and he almost falls backwards. Barry and Iris are there before he can get very far and ease him back into balance.  
"Thanks," Leonard mumbles, re-sticking the crutches and going up another step.  
"We could carry you instead," Barry offers with a slight blush on his cheeks. "Iris and I could take either side of you and put our hands under your knees. That way you won't have to go up the last six steps."  
"No thanks, Barry." Leonard hops up two more steps and pauses to catch his breath. "But maybe next time I'll just scoot up backwards."  
"We could have gotten a sled!" Iris pipes up excitedly. "It would be like those extreme rescues after an avalanche. We'd strap you down and everything, then once you were in the house we could give you cocoa."  
Leonard is up two more steps. Only two left to go.  
"Do you guys have mini marshmallows?" Leonard stares, determined, at the front door and pushes himself up the last two steps. "Because cocoa isn't the same without the mini marshmallows."  
"Dad!" Iris turns to her father who was watching from the bottom of the steps. "When you're coming home, can you get mini marshmallows?"  
"And pizza," Barry adds, holding the door open for the other boy as he makes his way inside. "And soda too, if he has enough cash on him."  
"What am I? Your maid?" Joe laughs, shaking his head at the teens as he goes back to his car. He trusts his daughter and foster son to take care of Leonard.  
Now he just had to smooth things over at work before people noticed how long he'd been gone.

 

Strangely enough, or perhaps the hand of fortune's misfortune, there was a wildfire that required 'all hands on deck' and in the confusion of running bodies, no one noticed a missing police detective.

\---


	10. Chapter 10

Joe returns home, late, to find his three teenagers randomly passed out in his living room. Len is taking up the couch, injured ankle hoisted up a bit higher than is probably recommended. Barry is on the floor, curled up in a pile of blankets like a content house cat. Iris is almost upside down in Joe's plush chair.  
His daughter snorts in her sleep as Joe gently closes the door. He has to cover his mouth to stop himself from laughing.  
The detective carefully takes two extra blankets and lays one on his daughter and the other on Len.  
He smiles fondly at the group before going up to his bed. He'll need all the sleep he can get if he's going to survive the three of them in the morning.

\---

"That is NOT how you wrap a leg, Barry!" Iris's shout startles Joe out of his pleasant dream of a promotion. "Let me show you how it's done!"  
Joe looks over to his bed side clock and groans. Teenagers shouldn't be allowed to be awake at 7:30 in the morning. Or they should at least come with snooze buttons.  
"You're wrapping it too tight, Iris!" Apparently playing nurse has BOTH of his teens in a fighting mood this morning. "I stayed up all night reading about how to care for a sprained ankle. Let me do it!"  
Joe pushes himself to his feet and starts to walk down the stairs at a steady pace. At one point he's going to have to play ring leader.  
"Take a breath you two." Joe pauses half way down a step at hearing Leonard's calm tone. "Iris, you can wrap the ankle, but only if you let Barry instruct you on how to do it properly."  
"But I-"  
"I can't feel my toes, Iris," Leonard interrupts her. "Please, just let Barry tell you how. You can still do all the work yourself."  
"Fine!" his daughter huffs, and Joe resumes his walk down the rest of the stairs. "But only because you said the magic word."  
The detective finds Len in the same position he did last night, sans the pillow tower. Barry and Iris are hovering over his injury like busy bees in a nest. His daughter is holding a roll of bandages, half of it already tightly wound around Leonard's ankle which she was currently un-wrapping to re-wrap, and Barry is holding open a book with one hand while pointing out where to pull tighter or leave slack.  
"Detective," Leonard smirks at Joe when he gets close enough to see. The eye was better, less swollen and looking more like a pallet of dark colors. "Sorry we woke you."  
"I gave up the right to sleep the moment I decided to be a father," Joe shakes his head, fondly remembering Iris as a baby. "You guys sleep alright?"  
"Like a baby," Len smirks. Iris and Barry are too wrapped up in wrapping the other teen's ankle to answer.  
"There!" Iris announces proudly as she secures the bandage with the little metal pieces. "How does it feel now, Lenny?"  
Leonard moves the ankle back and forth a little before smiling at the two, "Good job, guys. You did better than the nurse at the hospital."  
"Booyah!" Iris high-fives Barry. She startles when she sees her father, "Daddy? What are you doing awake so early?"  
Joe grumbles a few 'choice words' under his breath as he purposely doesn't stomp to the kitchen.

 

"Hey-" Iris barks.  
"You can't-" Barry pleads.  
"Watch me." Leonard deadpans.  
Joe turns curious eyes to the teenager as he hops to the kitchen to go to the freezer, Iris and Barry following him like puppies.  
"I can get the ice," Barry offers, dropping his medical book on the counter.  
"What do you want for breakfast?" Iris asks. "I can make cereal."  
"Guys," Leonard frowns at their offers, taking the ice pack out himself. "I'm not an invalid."  
"No, but you're injured," Barry frowns, reaching to take the ice pack but Leonard pulls it back.  
"Injured people are supposed to be pampered," Iris says snatching the pack out Leonard's hand when he pulls it further back to keep it from Barry. She gets a glare for her theft. "You need to rest so that you can heal faster."  
"Yeah," Barry nods in agreement. "Then you can finish your community days and get out of your probationary parole."  
"I'll heal just fine without your sugary smiles and helpfulness," Leonard tries to grab for the pack but Iris jumps away from his reach. He growls, hands tightening on their grip of the crutches. "I don't need your help."  
"Of course you don't," Barry startles the other three people in the room with his 'that's ridiculously obvious' tone. "That's not the point."  
"What is the point, Barry?" Len sighs angrily.  
"The point is we're your friends and we want to help take care of you," the brunette frowns at the other boy's confusion. "Don't you think we're friends, Len?"  
The room goes deathly silent.  
Iris looks between Leonard and Barry as they stare at each other.  
After too much time passes and the awkward gets unbearable, Joe decided to step in.  
"I'm going to go in early guys," he speaks up louder than is probably necessary because Barry looks hurt now and he wants to draw as much attention away from it as he can. "Iris, you were going to go watch that movie with Barry today, right?"  
"Yeah," his daughter nods, putting the ice pack down next to her foster brother's abandoned medical book. "We might leave earlier than we planned, though. I suddenly feel like going for a long walk."  
"Barry?" Joe turns to his foster son. "You gonna go for a walk with Iris?"  
The brunette nods, searching Leonard's eyes for something before turning and running up the stairs. Iris throws a worried look to her father before running after him.  
Scowling, Leonard grabs the ice pack and hops back to the couch.  
Joe sets up the coffee machine to run, then follows after him.

"Was that your version of 'round two'?" he asks the still scowling teenager.  
"I don't need their help," Leonard hisses as he puts the ice on his ankle.  
"I'm fairly certain Barry made it clear he knew that already," Joe crosses his arms over his chest as he looks down at the teen. "Why are you trying to close them out?"  
Only silence answers his question and Joe thinks he might have lost another battle when he sees the kid's shoulders sag.  
"I'm not," Leonard glares at his ankle. "I'm not used to it."  
"Used to what?"  
"Used to people caring so much."  
Cool blue eyes turn to Joe. There's a lot of hurt in those eyes.  
"No matter what, you always have to look out for yourself," Leonard turns his eyes away again. "That's what I've always thought. But then you caught me and exposed me to the cheer squad."  
"And now you don't know what to think," Joe surmises, a smile tugging at his face but he stops it from forming. This was a time for a gentle touch. "Maybe you should think it over for a bit. Decide if maybe looking out for someone else's interests could lead to your own improvement."  
"What's to improve?" the kid smirks, his usual candor returning. "Besides, I've already got Lisa."  
"And Lisa's got you, but," Joe uncrosses his arms to lean against the couch a little. "Your sister doesn't need a cold hearted robot for a brother. She needs someone who'll care about her as much as she'll care about him."  
"I'm her brother, not her boyfriend," Leonard rolls his eyes, but he's still smirking.  
"People can be the raise or ruin of a person," Joe rubs at the back of his neck. All this deep thought so early in the morning was making him more tired. "The important thing is to surround yourself with the right people."  
He pats the kid on the shoulder before going back to the kitchen, offering up one last thing, "Like me and the cheer squad."

 

When Joe leaves, Barry and Iris have already gone and Leonard is still in deep thought on the couch.

 

\- - 

 

Joe is at a crime scene of a break-in when he gets a call on his cell phone.  
"Detective West," he answers, pointing out a scrap of clothing torn from the broken glass for the CSI to bag as evidence.  
"Dad!" Iris nearly shouts over the line. "Big, bald and scary is trying to take Lenny away!"  
"He isn't bald!" Barry's voice protests from nearby.  
"Does that really matter right now, Barry?" his daughter scoffs. "Daddy, he's got a lit pack of matches and he's holding it over Len's head!"  
"I'm going in there," Barry announces.  
"Don't let him go in there, Iris!" Joe orders, running for his car. Is he ever going to be able to have a normal day at work again? "Where are you two hiding?"  
"We're on the front porch, looking in through the window," Iris explains. Barry is grumbling something, but it's either too quiet or he's too far away to hear. "No, we are not calling 9-1-1. DAD is the cops and the house isn't on fire yet."  
"What is happening in the house now?" Joe shoves the car into gear and tears away as fast as he can. "Iris! What is going on in the house?"  
"The big kid offered Len the matches and he took them, then he snuffed them out in a cup of water and the big kid got really angry," his daughter gasps. "I think he's going to hit him!"  
"That's it! I'm going in!" Barry's announcement is amplified by the sound of the door opening. "Who are you and what are you doing in our house?"  
Iris must have followed her foster brother in, because Joe could clearly hear what the brunette had said.  
"Dad, we're both in the house now," Iris tells him, confirming his assumption. She addresses the intruder, "I've got the cops on the phone, buddy. So you better scram!"  
"You're living with the cops now, Snart?" an unfamiliar voice growls. "I was told you were pinched last time we pulled a job, but you were just playing house with one of them?"  
"Do I look like I care what your opinion is, Mick?" Leonard's voice barks. "Now, you heard the lady. Scram!"  
"Some partner you turned out to be," the new voice, 'Mick' Leonard called him, growls again then it sounds like someone steps heavily passed Iris.  
"And don't come back!" his daughter shouts, before the door slamming shut rings through the receiver. "You okay Lenny?"  
"Peachy," the teen answers. "You got your dad on that thing?"  
"Yeah," the detective can hear the device being handed over.  
Joe's still ten minutes away, but he slows his more-than-a-little-illegal speed.  
"Sorry about that, Detective," Leonard drawls over the phone smoothly. "Someone popped by unannounced. Didn't mean to scare the kiddies."  
"You're only two years older than me," Barry points out, sounding slightly offended.  
"And girls mature two years faster than boys, so you're only one year older than me," Iris announces haughtily.  
"The point is," Joe can hear Leonard's glare. The kid was getting to his head. "It shouldn't happen again and there's no need for you to come rushing over here with all your police buddies."  
Something clicks in the ever-so-slightly worried tone the teen had, "This Mick guy the partner the officer who brought you in saw?"  
"Like I said," Leonard's voice deepens a little, making Joe frown. "There's no need to get worked up over it."  
"I'm not bringing a platoon of officers to my house, Len," the detective scoffs. "I don't know what position in law enforcement you think I have, but I do not have the authority to order anyone over to my house whenever I want. Though, I will take it as a compliment that you think that I even could."  
"Good," the kid hangs up. Joe pushes down on the accelerator again.  
It's just one of those days.

\- -

Joe finds Barry and Iris waiting on the front steps when he gets to the house.  
"He's really antsy in there," his daughter frowns. "I think the intruder really bothered him."  
"Len called him Mick," Barry adds with a frown of his own. "He said they were partners?"  
"I think I can guess where they met," Joe sighs, looking at his own front door as if there was a harrowing mission waiting for him on the other side. "They might also have been working together in the convenience store robberies. Len was caught in the act but his partner had escaped."  
"This Mick guy ran off and let his partner take all the blame?" Iris rolls her eyes. "Where is the honor amongst thieves?"  
"There isn't any, Iris," he smiles at his daughter's innocence. "Criminals are just liars and thieves. They don't keep their word and they don't take care of each other."  
"Unless they want or need something from each other," Barry guesses, frown deepening. "Why would Len want to be a part of that?"  
"Yeah," his foster sister nods. "You'd think he'd throw that life away the second he got out of Juvie the first time."  
"Bad habits are hard to break." Joe doesn't want to even think about how life would be for his two kids if they had gone through what the Snart siblings had. "But if we want Len to become a better person, we need to make it easier for him to change."  
"How?" Iris pouts, no doubt wishing things in life were easier.  
"By being there for him, even when he doesn't want us to be," he kisses his daughter on the cheek before going through the door to check on his third kid.

"Len," Joe nods to the teen as he takes a seat on the coffee table next to him.  
"I suppose this is where you tell me to pack my bags and leave?" Leonard doesn't make eye contact. He keeps his eyes pointed forward, a flashback of the first day Joe met him.  
It felt like years ago.  
"I wouldn't be a very good cheerleader if I gave up on you after a slight hiccup," the detective smiles at the twitch of the teen's mouth.  
"No offense," Len's eyes are still pointed forward but his tone is relaxed. "But you don't have the legs to wear a skirt."  
"Do you have to make it hard to be your friend?" Joe asks sarcastically, wishing he could smack the kid up the side of his head but didn't want to aggravate his injuries. "Look, I'm not gonna make you rat out your criminal partner or anything. I'm not even gonna ask you about him. I just want to know that you aren't going to run off to him the second you can actually run."  
Leonard turns cool blue eyes to the detective, but there's nothing icy or hard to them.  
"I'm not planning on running away with him," the kid smirks. "I'd much rather stay here." He turns to look at where Barry and Iris are hesitating at the doorway, "With my friends."  
Iris giggles, clapping her hands before pulling Barry into a hug. Her foster brother is grinning from ear to ear.  
"Good," Joe stands again. "Now, if you three will excuse me, I have a crime to solve."

\---


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I completely made up (probably blindly abused) the judicial system in this Chapter.  
> I'm mainly setting up a time line for the rest of this fic... I so desperately wanted to make Len's work hours shorter, but I couldn't figure out how after reading a 10 days = 500 hours work thing on the internet. (& I was too lazy to keep looking after that.)   
> So I fudged the numbers and pulled a few things out of a figurative hat.

As Joe continues to work cases, his foster children spend more time with each other.  
Leonard looks better every day. A week after the incident, he's already limping around without a single crutch and his face is mostly purple-ish red with some black surrounding the eye itself.

 

Joe takes off early one evening to make them a proper meal.  
As he struggles to open the door with his arms overladen with the groceries he's purchased, he overhears what's going on inside.  
"Not like that, Barry," Leonard sounds like a teacher gently scolding a student. "You start by approaching from one side, then push against her from the opposite side as you pass her and slip your hand in and out quickly."  
Joe doesn't like anything in that sentence at all and he slams his shoulder against the door to get it to open faster.  
Leonard, arms crossed over his chest, is standing in the middle of the living room staring at Barry, who has his hand partially in Iris's coat pocket a few steps away, while Iris pretends to be looking at a magazine.  
"What are you three doing?" Joe barks, startling the brunette and his daughter but only getting an eyebrow raise from Leonard.  
"Len was, well I thought that, we were only," Barry's cheeks are reddening with his inability to explain himself.  
"The lieutenant is only teaching us a few thieving tricks, Daddy," Iris explains with a placating smile. "Nothing completely criminal. Just a few simple cons and slight of hand."  
"Just a few simple cons and slight of hand?" Joe repeats in shock. Then he thunders, "Have you two completely lost your minds?"  
"Sorry, Joe, it was my idea, sorry," Barry bows his head, pulling his hands behind his back as he stares at his feet.  
Iris rolls her eyes, "No it wasn't!" she nudges her foster brother. "It was just as much my idea as it was yours."  
"I seriously doubt these two are fit for the life of crime," Leonard tries for reassurance. "Barry can barely pick-pocket."  
"That is not helping," Joe nearly shouts again but doesn't need the neighbors to come pounding on his door next. He points his finger at Barry and Iris, "You two are supposed to be a good influence on Len, not the other way around."  
"You mean I'm a good influence on them?" Len reasons with an arrogant smirk.  
"I mean no more cons, slight of hand, or anything remotely illegal in my house ever again," Joe growls through clenched teeth. He glares at the three teens. "Do I make myself clear?"  
"Crystal," Len shrugs, indifferent.  
"Yes, sir, absolutely," Barry nods, eyes still trained on the ground.  
"Okay, fine," Iris rolls her eyes again in a huff. "We'll go back to doing 'normal teenager' things."  
"That's all I ask," Joe sighs, any energy left over from his caffeine hit an hour ago completely gone. "Now, each of you grab a bag and put it in the kitchen."

As the teenagers move to do as ordered at their own pace, meaning Barry and Iris raced to do theirs first and Leonard sauntered with a limp, Joe's head suddenly offers up the realization that he was raising a pack of rogues.  
He groans, going back to his car for the bag with the coffee he desperately needed.

\- - 

"I'm ready to go back," Len announces in the middle of dinner.  
Iris's, mouth mid-slurp of noodles, opens her jaw to comment but Joe stops her with a, "Chew and swallow, Iris."  
She growls in annoyance, but listens accordingly.  
"You mean back to community service?" Barry clarifies with a frown. "But you're still limping."  
"I can manage even with the limp," Leonard assure the brunette with a smirk. "Besides, I've only done 10 days and I've got 260 more to go."  
"260?" Iris nearly chokes. She takes a few guzzles of water before continuing. "For petty theft?"  
"You would have only gotten 6 months in Juvie for that," Barry frowns, turning to look at Joe. "Why was he assigned over 90 days more doing community work if he could've just done his time and finished sooner?"  
"Yeah," Irish chimes in. "That doesn't seem fair!"  
"If you're given community service instead of jail time, you've got privileges that you wouldn't have while in lock up," Joe explains, putting down his fork when he sees the confusion still on his two kid's faces. "Listen, not every case is cookie cutter. Len is a repeat offender so he got as many days as they could tack on him. And if he didn't show up for them when he was scheduled to, he would have been thrown in Juvie with no days served."  
"But he's been here for over a week," Iris glances worriedly over to her friend. "Is he going to get in trouble? Will they discredit the days he already did?"  
"No," Joe shakes his head. "I settled things with his corrections officer. He's on medical leave of his duties. It's like a pause button on his work schedule. There'd be a lawsuit if the system tried to use him while he was recovering from an on-site injury."  
"More like uncalled for abuse," Barry grumbles under his breath. Joe decides to ignore the comment.  
"Len got 2,160 hours," he tells them. "With 8 hours worked each day that makes 270 days."  
"38.6 weeks or roughly 9.6 months," his foster son adds with a frown. "That's almost four months over his original sentence."  
"I think it's worth it," Leonard's quiet voice speaks up, gaining everyone's attention. The teen keeps his eyes on his plate as he continues. "If I was sent back to Juvie I wouldn't have met my cheer squad. So," he shrugs. "I think it's worth it."  
Joe grins, feeling a little pride at the comment and the fact that his newest foster kid was opening up to them some more.  
"Daddy," Iris bites her lip in concentration as she turns to her father. "Any chance Len could amp up the hours he works each day?"  
"Yeah," Barry gets on his foster sister's train of thought easily. "If he could do 10 hours instead of 8-"  
"With 65 hours already done," Iris adds quickly.  
"That leaves him with 2,095 hours," Barry nods to his foster sister. "At a 10 hour rate-per-day that means he'd be done in 209.5 days."  
"That's," Iris puts a hand up to Barry to stop him from answering, "29-ish weeks."  
"29.92, so most likely 30," the brunette adds. "Making it 7.5 months."  
All eyes turn to the wide-eyed foster sibling at the other end of the table.  
"If you want, I could see if that's possible," Joe offers the surprised teen. "It would only take a few phone calls."  
Leonard blinks away his wide eyes and offers them a confident smirk, "Sounds like a plan to me."


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lewis Snart is a very bad man.

Helping Leonard finish his community service earlier sounds fine and dandy, until Joe is woken up four days straight by a cheerful duo at seven o'clock in the morning so that 'he won't be late'.  
Barry and Iris don't even bother to bring him any coffee when they come to rouse him.

"I can't wait for you two to go back to school," Joe groans when they wake him on the fifth day. "Where are you getting this peppy morning attitude?"  
"We want Len to be free of his criminal bondage!" Iris announces with a fist bump to the sky.  
"The sooner he gets his juvenile records sealed the better for his future," Barry nods in agreement.  
"You have never woken up this early so often, Barry," Joe yawns, staying in bed a few more seconds. "How did you manage to flip your lazy switch?"  
"Simple," the brunette smiles. "Len's future is important. I'd take him myself if it was legal."  
"Like Dad would let you drive his car-baby," Iris giggles, dodging a playful swipe from her father. "Barry would probably wrap the thing around a tree or hit a neighbor's dog on the first try!"  
"Hey," her foster brother protests weakly. "You don't even know what the ignition is."  
"I'm too young to care," Iris shrugs, finally walking out of Joe's room. She turns at the door to order her father, "Better hurry up, Daddy! Len's already downstairs and waiting!"  
Joe throws a pillow at them.

 

The next week, Leonard starts making Joe coffee.  
"Have I mentioned how much I like you, Len?" Joe grins as he takes the mug. "This doesn't mean you were up late scheming again, does it?"  
"No," the teen shakes his head. "Just a little liquid gratitude for you playing Mr. Taxi."  
"Joe!" Barry's worried voice brings everyone to the living room where the brunette is watching a news bulletin on the TV about an escaped felon.  
"Lewis Snart, a convicted thief with several counts of aggravated assault under his belt, has escaped from Iron Heights custody. As of late last night, authorities have looked for the convict without much..."  
Leonard's already at the door before the reporter can finish. Joe, Iris and Barry run for the teen to stop him.  
Joe grabs a fist full of the teen's orange jumpsuit as Iris blocks the front door and Barry hesitates behind them to block the way to the back door.  
"Let me go!" Leonard demands, trying to twist out of Joe's grip.  
"You can't run off now, Lenny!" Iris protests before her father can respond. "You could mess everything up!"  
"I'm going to mess your father up if he doesn't let me go!" the teen growls, twisting a little harsher before shouting out in pain and stilling.  
"Are you okay? Did you re-sprain your ankle?" Barry takes a step towards Leonard, but then bites his lower lip and takes a step back.  
"You're not going after your dad, Len," Joe pulls the teen to the stairs so that he can rest his ankle. Leonard glares at him, pushing the detective's hand away once he lets go of the material of his jumpsuit.  
"It's not my DAD I was going after," Leonard bites out.  
"Then who?" Iris asks, arms still splayed across the front door to keep it closed.  
"My sister," Leonard looks up to glare at her. "Lisa Snart."  
"Sister?" Barry repeats, shocked. "You have a sister?"  
"She's in foster care somewhere else and I've got to get to her before Lewis gets his mitts on her," Leonard carefully puts weight on his ankle and winces, resting back on his seat at the stairs. He looks up at Joe, "You know what he'll do to her if he finds her."  
"What is he talking about, Daddy?" Iris frowns at her father.  
Barry adds to her question, "What aren't you telling us?"  
Joe takes a deep breath. This wasn't going to end well.  
"My dad," Leonard shocks the detective when he speaks first. The blue-eyed boy isn't looking at anyone, his focus is straight ahead like a soldier. "Was and is abusive. He beat me and Lisa when we were little and hasn't stopped just because we're teenagers. He taught me how to steal in the first place and even took me out on jobs when I was young enough to get my little hands into convenient places."  
"That's awful," Barry whispers, eyes a little watery.  
"Some people should never get to be parents," Iris growls, crossing her arms over her chest.  
Leonard blinks away his blank stare and glares at Joe, "If Lewis gets to Lisa, he'll drag her out of that foster house and beat her until she tells him where I am. But she doesn't know that."  
"We'll help Lisa," Barry announces.  
"No," Joe finally speaks up. He gets a harsher glare and two surprised looks for his one word. "None of you are going after anyone. Remember what I said when you wanted to go after the punks in Juvie?"  
"But we know the story," Iris protests angrily. "Lewis Snart is a jerk and a runaway felon. We're doing the police a favor by going after him for them."  
"He is a dangerous felon too," he reminds his daughter. "I am the police as well as your father and your foster father," he glances at the boys before telling them all, "I said NO."  
Joe looks down at Leonard, "Get upstairs to the bathroom."  
"What?" the teen frowns at him.  
"I said upstairs to the bathroom," Joe points as he raises his voice a little, "NOW!"  
Leonard rises to his feet and limps upstairs. Joe follows and grabs his spare set of police cuffs from his dresser drawer.

"I'm putting you under house arrest," he tells Leonard as he cuffs him to the towel rack. "Normally, I'd just have Barry and Iris keep an eye on you, but I have a feeling I'll need the extra precaution."  
"Dad, you can't do this," Iris protests angrily. "He's just worried about his sister!"  
"I know that," Joe nods, checking to make sure that the cuff and towel rack were secure before leaving the room. "But he's my responsibility."  
"Can't he go to his community service work instead?" Barry asks as Joe starts walking down the stairs. "The officer in charge can keep an eye on him and he won't have to miss out on any more days."  
"Len has run away from his work before," Joe tells them, smirks at the surprised looks he knew he'd get. "That time he ran off to see his sister too, so I know he'll just do it again."  
"But what are you going to do about Father Evil?" Iris pouts, glancing at the TV even though the next story was already playing. "He has to be stopped."  
"Yes," Joe grabs up the rest of his things before kissing his daughter on the forehead. "But not by you or Barry, and especially not by Len."  
"I want you all to stay here and make sure Leonard doesn't budge from that bathroom," Joe opens the door then turns back to his kids. "I mean it. You all need to be here when I get back."  
"But, what about the cat?" Iris points out, worried.  
Joe blinks, mind blank of all thought, "What?"  
"The cat that I've been taking care of for spare cash?" his daughter reminds him. "Don't tell me you forgot again?"  
"Right, Mr. Tinkles-"  
"Sprinkles."  
"Right, Mr. Sprinkles," Joe had forgotten. With all the madness which is now his life, he tends to look over the finer details of his kids' lives. "Fine, you can go take care of the cat, but come right back."  
"Yes, general," she salutes him.  
Joe closes the door with a roll of his eyes.

\- -

The whole time Joe's at work, he keeps thinking about his kids. Every other minute or so he thinks about calling them to check up on them, but then decides better of it and has to deal with the burning sensation in his hands to do it anyway.  
He calls a few friends in the police force to check on the Iron Heights break-out, but they can't tell him anything more than the newscasters do.  
The detective barely gets anything done before his phone rings and he's answering it like a junkie looking for a fix.  
"Detective West?" he confuses himself with the question to his name. "Who's this?"  
"Daddy," Iris says quietly. REALLY quietly, which means someone did something they shouldn't. The last time she sounded like that she had dyed Barry's hair purple on accident. "Can you come home for a few minutes?"  
"Is Len still there?" Joe goes straight for the worst case scenario.  
His daughter is silent on the line and he takes a very deep breath before repeating the question more carefully. "Iris. Is Len. Still there?"  
"Not exactly."  
When will his life ever be normal again?

 

Joe feels like all he ever does is drive around like a madman in his car. He fondly thinks back to an 18 hour stake-out he had with a gassy partner that turned up only the perpetrator's pet poodle.  
The good old days when he could go to work, catch some bad guys, and go back home to a loving family that wasn't trying to make his heartrate spike or anxiety to rise to inhuman levels.

He slams his car door in an attempt to vent some of his frustration. As he nears his front door, Iris opens it for him, a fearful and worried look in here eyes that she turns towards the stairs.  
Joe doesn't say anything as he takes the steps two at a time to find a very meek looking, handcuffed, Barry sitting on the toilet in the bathroom.  
"Let me guess," he sighs, resting against the doorway for strength. "Len got loose while Iris was gone and cuffed you in here so you wouldn't follow him?"  
"Close," his foster son's cheeks color a little. "I let him loose. I wanted to help save his sister!" he hurriedly adds when Joe opens his mouth to scold him. "But then he cuffed me here so that I'd be safer."  
"Safer?" Joe pauses as he reaches for the cuff key.  
Leonard didn't want Barry to be wrapped up in his mess. He's a good kid at heart.  
Joe releases Barry from the cuffs.  
"My dad's in jail for something he didn't do," the teen quietly tells the detective as he pulls away. "I know that if he were free that he wouldn't do anything to hurt me."  
Barry turns big eyes to Joe, "I just wanted to help."  
"I know, Barry," he smiles at him, tussling his hair like he used to when the teen was just a kid. "I know."

 

"We've got to save the lieutenant," Iris announces as Joe and Barry enter the living room. "Dad, you know where Lisa is. You can take us there and we can get Lenny back together."  
"We? Us? Together?" Joe shakes his head. "Nu-ah, you two are staying here. And I expect you to actually listen to me this time."  
"But Joe-  
"No!"  
"Daddy-!"  
"NO!" Joe glares at his kids, quelling them into silence. "I am going to have a hard enough time dragging that boy's butt back here. I will not have the patience or energy to keep an eye on the two of you as well."  
He goes out the front door with one final order, "Stay here!"

\- - 

Joe drives straight to Lisa's foster home and checks the outside for any sign of Leonard. There are broken branches and disturbed flowers leading him to an open window where he can hear two voices whispering to each other.  
"He's out?" a female voice is saying. "I thought they had enough to keep him in for a while now!"  
"They did, but their collective incompetence let him get back out," Leonard's voice growls darkly. "I've gotta get you out of here. I know a place where we can hide out till they find Lewis and lock him back up."  
"But what about you?" the girl voice, obviously Lisa, sounds worried. "Your note said that you were with some badge?"  
Note? What note? Had the kid left some sort of note when Joe grabbed him?  
"Yeah, he's not going to be happy," Leonard chuckles a little but his next words sound sad, "It's too bad, really. They were nice."  
"No one's ever nice to us," Lisa huffs, unconvinced.  
"You'll have to take my word for it, Lis," Leonard's voice is coming closer to the window now. "But we gotta hurry. There's no telling how long it will take for Lewis to find you here."  
Joe ducks behind the tree as Leonard slides out of the window. When he reaches back to help his younger sister down, he steps out and clears his throat.  
Lisa yelps, surprised, and fells onto her brother, knocking them both to the ground.  
"Detective," Leonard's icy tone lacks luster since it's coming from under his sister's body. "You got here fast."  
"I could say the same for you," Joe helps the younger Snart get to her feet, but he doesn't let go of her arm. "How did you get here?"  
"The bus or a stolen car, I'll let you pick," the teen drawls, getting to his feet and glaring at Joe's hold on his sister. "Let her go."  
"She's the only reason you haven't run away yet," Joe keeps his hold solid but not too tight to hurt. Lisa looks like a scared child in his grip. "I take it your 'hurt ankle' scene from earlier was all an act?"  
"It did hurt for a second," the teen smirks a little. "But the ankle's fine. Thanks for asking."  
"You have to come back to the house, Len," Joe tells him. "And without your sister."  
"Lenny, I think you should do as he says," Lisa bites her lower lip nervously. "I don't want you to get in any more trouble because of me."  
"You're worth any trouble I run into," Leonard tell her with a wink. He straightens a little before threatening the detective, "I'm willing to fight you over this, detective. I've been in enough scuffles to know where to hit a man."  
"And be as bad as your old man?" Joe congratulates himself when he gets the desired look of disapproval. "Lewis Snart meets obstacles with violence. That isn't your style, Len. You think things through and form plans."  
"I'm planning on overpowering you and taking my sister far away," Leonard grinds out but then his eyes go wide. He shouts, "Behind you!"  
Joe doesn't hesitate. He immediately lets go of Lisa and spins away from whatever danger lurks behind him. A snarling, red-face Lewis Snart misses hitting him with a piece of pipe.  
"CCPD!" Joe shouts out, dodging another swipe from the felon. "Drop the pipe right now!"  
"Die copper!" Lewis laughs, swinging again. It grazes Joe in the arm and he curses as he takes a few more steps away.  
The eldest Snart stands in front of his kids in a modicum of a protective gesture.  
He points the pipe at Joe, "If you run away now, I promise not to kill you."  
"Sorry," Joe's hand slowly goes for his sidearm resting on his hip. "I don't make it a habit of leaving teenagers in the hands of monsters."  
The felon's eyes go dark as he states simply, "Then die."  
Joe pulls his gun out but he's too slow, the pipe hits his wrist and the weapon goes flying. He pulls the injury close to his chest as he scrambles back a few steps in an attempt to put space between himself and the felon.  
"Run, Len!" Joe orders as he ducks away from another blow. "Take your sister to safety!"  
Lewis gets a more solid hit to Joe's arm and he shouts out in pain as he tumbles to the ground.  
"Lights out, copper," the thief grins as he stands over him. Joe frantically looks for something to defends himself with. The foster family's yard was irritatingly clear of anything to use.  
The small sound of a gun's hammer clicking rings out loudly in the air, stilling the fight.  
Lewis turns to the side, giving Joe the perfect view of Leonard holding the detective's gun and pointing it at his father.  
Joe swallows around the sudden, heavy tension as he pulls himself up to his feet, completely ignoring all his aches and pains as he keeps his eyes glued on the teenager.  
Leonard's eyes are locked on his father, feet steady pillars holding him up, but his arms are wavering ever so slightly and his hands are visibly shaking in indecision. Or maybe fear.  
Lisa is cowering behind him, looking like a little girl being defended by her big, brave brother from a terrible monster.  
That's what Lewis Snart was. A monster.  
But Joe can't let the kid live the rest of his life with the guilt of taking another person's life. Especially not the life of his father, no matter what kind he was.  
"Len," Joe calls out to him calmly. "Put the gun down, son."  
"He ain't your son," Lewis breaks out of his stupor to shout at the detective. "He's my boy and he'll do as I say."  
The eldest Snart takes a step closer to his kids, pointing the pipe at Leonard as he barks, "Put that down!"  
Lisa squints her eyes tightly shut, pulling tighter into herself as she continues to cower behind her brother. Len's arms stop wavering.  
"He's a crappy excuse for a dad but you can't kill him," Joe tells him, keeping his voice calm. Lewis turns a snarl to him but he ignores it as he begins to walk passed him. "Think about Lisa. If you kill Lewis in cold blood like this you'll go to jail for a long, long time. Who knows what will happen to her?"  
"Shut up!" Lewis grabs Joe by the front material of his shirt and shakes him. "Shut your flippin' mouth up!"  
Joe sees the siblings jump a little as their father grabs him. Lisa is almost completely hidden behind her brother while Len's eyes narrow at them.  
"Do you want to die, Lewis?" Joe barks at him, fed up with the man's idiocy. "If you'd like to keep breathing with a few less holes, then I suggest YOU shut up."  
"Why you-"  
Joe reaches forwards and grabs the pipe before the other man can swing it upwards and at him.  
"You deserve to die for what you did to them," he tells the angered felon as his arm shakes to keep control of the pipe. "But Len doesn't deserve to have to live with the guilt of killing you."  
Joe turns back to Leonard, "If you want to be like your dad, then shoot. But if you were serious about that round two nonsense, then I need you to put that gun down."  
He keeps eyes contact with the teen.  
Seconds tick by like the heavy hammer of a drum.  
One.  
Two.  
Three.  
Four.  
Five.  
Leonard lowers his arms.  
"About time you dumb kid!" Lewis spits. "When I'm done with this badge I'm gonna-"  
"That's enough," Joe darts his right hand across to the right side of the felon's neck and pulls him into a knee blow. Then, in the same motion, he slips his hold from the pipe to the man's wrist and twists it as he turns him around and shoves him to the ground. The pipe falls from his opponent's loosened grip.  
The detective turns to the siblings, "Do you think one of you could slip back into the house to call 9-1-1 for me?"  
Lisa nods, darting back in through the window effortlessly as her brother continues to stare at his father on the ground.  
"He's going back to prison, Len," Joe twists the man's wrist a little tighter when he starts to struggle. "You and Lisa are safe."  
Leonard turns soft blues to the detective, "Thank you, Joe."  
"You're welcome," Joe smiles at him, twisting his hold again to keep Lewis from talking back.

\- - 

Two young officers are stunned when they find Detective West pinning the escaped felon to the ground in someone's back yard.  
"Working a little overtime, detective?" one of them says, impressed as he helps his partner cuff their prisoner. "Didn't know you were a part time vigilante."  
"I've been appointed by the Central City Police Department to uphold the law and serve out justice," Joe smiles good naturedly at the officer as he catches his breath. All the adrenaline from the scuffle is gone now, leaving him with low energy and the need for coffee. "I took an oath and everything. My work here is legal."  
"Except for maybe trespassing," Leonard mumbles to him under his breath.  
At least the other officers didn't hear him.  
"What's with the kids?" another officer from a separate pair asks as they approach the scene. "They yours?"  
"Yes and no," Joe rubs at his sore wrist. He'll have to get that checked out. "The boy's under my care but the girl's got a separate foster family. We were just checking on her when the felon arrived."  
"The escapee related to them?" the other asks, clearly judging them with his eyes.  
"Who your parents are doesn't define who you are," the detective scolds him lightly, noting the small look of embarrassment from the officer.  
"You'll all need to come back to the station to file a report," they tell him. "But I'm sure you already knew that."  
"Thank you, officer," Joe waves to them with his good arm. "I'll take care of bringing in the teenagers myself."  
He gets a nod in reply before all four officers get into the their separate cruisers and leave.

"I should call the stand-ins," Lisa's voice says sadly. "They'll be upset if they hear about this from the TV first."  
Joe ignores his throbbing body to focus on the siblings, "This is what happened: Len and I came to see Lisa, Lewis Snart showed up, I took him down. That's it."  
"Shouldn't we go over the details a little bit more so they all sound the same?" Lisa asks, worrying the bottom of her shirt. "I don't want to mess things up for Lenny."  
"It's better if our stories sound different," Len smiles at her. "That way they won't think it's being faked or altered. They'll just assume it's three different people's versions of the same event."  
"What about," Lisa looks around before whispering, "the gun?"  
Leonard had returned it to the detective's holster before the police arrived.  
"It never came into play," Joe tells her firmly. "Len never touched it."  
"They'd tack on more hours if I so much as look at a firearm," Leonard agrees.  
"Okay," the younger sibling nods confidently at them. "I got it. You can depend on me, Lenny."  
"Good," Joe sighs, glancing at his swelling wrist. "Let's get to the station to fill out those reports. Lisa can call her foster parents from there to pick her up."

 

Joe calls his other kids when they make to the CCPD and assures them that everything's fine.  
They loudly protest when he tells them not to come to the station, but he threatens them with additional housework with no electronics and they quiet down.  
"You can get the whole story when we get home," he tells them, then hangs up.

 

Joe half expects his other two kids to show up anyway, but is pleasantly surprised when they don't. Lisa's foster mom and dad come running into the precinct worried and babbling a mile a minute until they see her and their faces break into relieved grins.  
Leonard squeezes his sister's hand tightly for one second before letting her go with them. Joe introduces himself to them and gets their last name properly, "Martin."  
Then they watch the Martins take Lisa 'home' before Joe picks up a pizza and brings Leonard back to his place, where they're instantly pounced on by two excited-worried teenagers.

"...and that's when Joe decided that he was a Kung-Fu master and knocked Lewis to the ground," Leonard finishes with a bow to the detective.  
"WOW," Iris and Barry both stare in awe to the adult at the same time.  
"As nice as you're behaving now," Joe lowers his voice to his 'dad tone'. "There are a few things we need to talk about before I let you leave this table."  
All smiles drop from the three teenager's faces.  
"When I tell you specifically NOT to do something," Joe keeps his tone at the same level, eyeing each of his kids carefully one at a time. "I expect you to listen and NOT do it."  
"But, Dad-?"  
He glares his daughter's question into silence.  
"I don't go around bossing you kids for no reason," he continues. "I am the adult and anything that you guys do, any problems or mistakes that you make, are all yours but they still fall on me for clean up duty."  
"But, Joe-"  
He clears his throat loudly to stop Barry's protest.  
"I don't want you to get hurt," Joe pushes on. "I don't want you to get in trouble. I just want you to listen and try your best to be better than you think you are."

"A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new," Leonard offers after a beat of silence.  
"Listen, Einstein," Joe grins at him. He can play the quote game too. "You weren't trying anything new. You ran away again and, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."  
"Wait," Iris frowns. "I thought 'practice makes perfect'?"  
Barry decides to join in, "The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing."  
"I'm not saying that we weren't going to help Lisa," Joe sighs inwardly. "I'm just saying that we need to be more safe about how we handle things."  
Leonard grins at that, "Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves."  
"What?" Iris blushes a little. "Who the hay said that?"  
"Albert Einstein," Barry answers.  
"The tongue guy with the crazy hair?" his foster sister asks. "Ewe."  
"Without continual growth and progress," Joe raises his voice a little to get the teen's attention again. "such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning."  
"Every problem has a solution," He gets up out of his chair and smiles at them, "If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you'll find an excuse."  
He leaves them to think it over as he shuffles off to bed.

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quotes Used:  
> "A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new." [Albert Einstein]  
> "The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." [Einstein]  
> "Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves." [Einstein]  
> "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." [Einstein]
> 
> "Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning." [Benjamin Franklin]  
> If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you'll find an excuse. [Jim Rohn; Altered]


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for a little Fluff....

Joe wakes up on his own and by himself the next morning. When he takes in a deep breath to stretch, he smells something sweet and cinnamony.  
'What's cooking?' he thinks as he dresses at an unhurried pace. 'And who's doing the cooking?'  
"DADDY!" Iris shouts as he opens his bedroom door.  
'And so it begins,' he shakes his head, calling out, "Yes, baby girl?"  
"If you don't hurry I'm going to eat it all!" she answers then shouts, "HEY!"  
Joe walks down the stairs casually even though he can hear the pillow fight breaking out in his living room.  
When he makes it to the bottom step, he sighs at the sight of Barry and Iris in an epic battle over his furniture as one tries to beat the other with the toss pillows.  
"So, you'll let me wake up on my own," Joe raises his voice enough to get their attention. The teens freeze, mid-hit. "But you won't behave long enough for me to make it down the stairs?"  
"The commander had commandeered my French toast," his daughter explains with a glare to her foster brother. "When I demanded recompense he shoved his own into his chipmunk cheeks and my country declared war on his."  
Barry, whose cheeks were still slightly puffed out with un-chewed food, managed to swallow enough to speak, "I do not have chipmunk cheeks! And you stole one of Joe's pieces first. I was just trying to make you understand how people felt when you take things that belong to them."  
"Wait a minute there, Iris," Joe lifts his hand to stop his daughter from re-staring the fight. "You two are too old for this kind of behavior. So get off my couch before I push you off it."  
Reluctantly, the two do as ordered and follow the detective back to the dining room where their abandoned meals were waiting.  
Leonard walks into the room from the kitchen, a plate of steaming French toast in his hands. He smirks at the detective, "Morning, Joe. Sorry about the ruckus. I didn't realize my cooking had such positive affects on others."  
"I'm not sure I'd label their behavior as 'positive'-  
"You're a great cook!" Iris interrupts as she takes a piece off the top of the pile. "Did you find the rest of the sugar?"  
"It was lying down behind the flour bag," the teen answers, putting the plate on the table. He turns to Joe, "I made some coffee, but you'll need to get more soon."  
"Who are you and what have you done with my juvenile delinquent?" Joe asks, slightly taken aback.  
"I caused a lot of trouble for you," Leonard shrugs, averting his eyes to watch the other two eat. "I don't like owing people."  
"Then you'll be happy to know, you don't owe me anything," Joe smiles as he goes for his first caffeine fix of the day. He grabs a piece of French toast next and takes a bite. It's delicious. "Especially if you're going to start cooking like this more often."  
"Don't get used to it," Leonard frowns, returning to the kitchen. "And since you slept in, you only have ten minutes before we have to leave. Assuming you'll let me go back to work?"  
"Who's the adult in this family?" Joe sighs, taking another bite of his food and washing it down with more coffee. "I swear you all think you're the boss."  
"I know you're the boss, Dad," Iris smiles at him.  
"Ahuh," he knows she's trying to butter him up for something. "You're still going back to school next week."  
"But Barry could homeschool me," his daughter pouts.  
He nailed it in one guess. Ten points his team.  
"Actually," Barry starts to correct his foster sister and gets a hard jab to the ribs for it.  
"I don't care about Barry's qualifications as a home educator," Joe tells his daughter, frowning at his watch. He actually does have to hurry if he doesn't want to be late. "You're going to public school until you graduate, then you can pick whatever college you want."  
His daughter groans dramatically, planting her forehead on the table with a gentle 'thump'.  
"School's overrated," Leonard mumbles, but it's mostly to himself and it doesn't garner any attention so Joe ignores it.  
"We're heading out," Joe tells the two at the table. "I expect you two to go through your supplies and make sure you have everything you need to start school again. I also expect to see your summer homework assignments to be finished."  
Barry nods seriously while Iris groans from her slumped position.  
"And I don't want to get any notes from your new teachers or the principle telling me that you weren't prepared for the new year," he warns them as he goes to the door where Leonard was waiting. "I'm talking to you Iris!"  
His daughter groans a little louder and Joe rolls his eyes as he follows Leonard out.

 

"What happened to you yesterday?" a new officer in charge barks at Leonard before he even gets all the way out of the car.  
"There was a family emergency," Joe explains, handing over the proper paperwork to the officer. "And I'd appreciate it, if you'd keep your judgmental tone to yourself."  
"Detective Joe West," the officer's eyes widen at the name on the paperwork, then he looks up at the detective. "You the same Joe West who nabbed that escaped felon yesterday?"  
"The one and only," Joe nods. "I was concerned for my foster son's younger sister, so we went to check on her and that's where we found elder Snart."  
"Oh," the officer's eyes soften on the teen. "I apologize for my tone, Snart. Everything seems to be in order. You can join Group A today."  
Leonard nods and walks over to the group in the front of the line of orange clad teens.  
"What happened to the other officer in charge?" Joe asks as he watches his kid leave.  
"He got caught smoking on the job," the new officer shrugs. "Idiot. There are rules and regulations to follow."  
The detective nods in agreement, "Well, I gotta run. Have a good day, officer."  
"You too, detective."

\- - -

Joe lets himself enjoy his 'normal' day. He gets to work, cracks open three murder cases and solves a break-in. Afterwards, he picks up his wayward teen and finds dinner already waiting for him when he gets home.

"I could get used to all this pampering," the detective remarks as he watches Iris set the dining room table. Barry is clanging around in the kitchen.  
"Maybe they're trying to upstage me," Leonard drawls, getting into his seat.  
"Ha. Ha." Iris mock laughs. "It just so happened that Barry and I were hungry and neither of us have any money for pizza, so we decided to make the spaghetti we found in the cabinet."  
"I also found a recipe for Italian crusted chicken," Barry adds as he enters with the bowl of pasta. "The parmesan cheese went bad, though, so we're going to have to do without."  
"Spaghetti without cheese?" Joe pretends to shiver in disgust. "Seems a little against the Italian code."  
"Are we even Italian?" Iris wonders aloud, helping her foster brother with the tray of chicken.  
"That," the detective laughs a little. "Is a very good question."  
"As long as it isn't undercooked or burnt, I'm sure it'll be fine," Leonard rolls his eyes. "Can we eat before you all get into cute and cuddly mode?"  
"Someone needs a hu-ug!" Iris sing-songs, extending her arms to the other teen.  
"Don't even try it," Leonard warns her darkly.  
Joe clears his throat and looks to Barry, "It smells great, Barry."  
"Thanks, Joe," the brunette brightens, taking his seat.  
"Ooh Rah!" Iris calls out, stabbing her piece of chicken first.

\- 

After dinner, where Iris and Barry fight over 'who has to clean up' more, Joe finds Leonard in his room to get something off his chest.  
"I never did say how proud I am of you," he tells the teenager softly.  
Leonard turns his attention away from the magazine he was looking at to turn confused eyes to the detective.  
"Yesterday, with the gun," Joe glances over his shoulder to make sure the other two weren't listening it. They had left the gun part out of yesterday's re-telling. "You put it down instead of using it."  
"It was a near things," Leonard shrugs, pretending indifference.  
"But you didn't use it and that's what's important," Joe smiles at him warmly. "I'm really proud of you, Len. And I'm glad you're here."  
The detective decides to leave it at that, not wanting to push too much for any sort of bonding, but as he leaves the other's room he hears a soft, "Me too."

\---


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now for some suspense....

When Joe arrives at work the next day, the place is swarming with military personnel.  
"What the..?" He goes to his partner in hopes of getting a grasp of the situation. "What's going on?"  
"Some important military paper has gone missing," the other detective shrugs. "That's about as much as I've gotten so far. The Chief's been in his office with some medal chested head honcho since I got here an hour ago."  
The door to the Chief's door opens and he barks out, "WEST! GET IN HERE!"  
"Someone's in trouble," his partner chuckles as Joe runs to his boss.  
"Sir?" he asks once the door's been closed behind them.  
"West, this is General Patton," the Chief motions to the highly decorated man standing by his desk. "Something important has been stolen from a military base and he's tracked the thief to Central City."  
"It is imperative," the General says in a deep voice. "That nothing we say here leaves this office."  
"Absolutely, sir," Joe nods. "You have my word."  
The military man nods back, "Some time last night, classified missile plans were taken from a secured site in Starling City. The thief was caught on tape taking a train to Central City. Here is a still we have of the suspect."  
Patton hands over a photo that Joe takes to look over. Its blurry, but there's enough in the photo to know the suspect's male, around the ages of 18-30 perhaps.  
"This entire case is top secret, West," the Chief reminds him in his 'no nonsense' tone. "You're not allowed to even talk about taking it to your partner or family at home."  
"What exactly am I supposed to be doing on this case, sirs?" Joe asks, looking at the two older gentlemen. "Find this guy and bring him here?"  
"The man isn't our top priority," the General shakes his head. "What he stole is the most important thing to find. We can't allow those plans to fall into enemy hands."  
"I understand," Joe schools his expression, looking closer at the photo in his hands. "Is there anything else to go on? Other than this picture and the fact he took a train here from Starling City?"  
"I'm having surveillance from the station brought over as we speak," the Chief tells him. "Obviously, we can't have the military police running around asking questions, so I told the General I would put my best man on it."  
Joe's heart swells with the compliment as he looks away from the photo again.  
"I will do my best," he tells them with all the confidence he can muster.  
"That's all I can ask of a man," Patton jerks to the side in military fashion, nods to the Chief and detective, then leaves the room.  
"I'll have the footage sent straight to you, Joe," his boss tells him as the military men outside his office leave. "We really need you to track this guy down and get those papers back."  
"I know," Joe smiles at him. "And I have every intention of getting them back."

 

The footage doesn't give Joe much, but after watching it several times, he notices a reflection that gives him a partial plate to run.

The plate leads him to a towing company that found the abandoned vehicle near one of the places where Leonard does his community service.  
Joe gets a bad feeling in his gut as he waits for the officer in charge to bring his foster son out to meet him.  
"Something happen at home?" Leonard asks when he sees the detective. "Whatever it is, I didn't do it."  
"I need to talk to him alone," Joe tells the officer, who nods and walks back to his charges.  
"Are you here to tell me that I'm being taken out of your care?" the teen asks with a guarded look in his eyes.  
"No," Joe shakes his head. "This is about a case I'm working. And I really, really hope you have nothing to do with it."  
"I don't," Leonard assures him. "I've been with my group all day. Ask the boss."  
"I will, but first I need you to look at something," Joe pulls out the photo of the suspect and shows it to his foster son. "Have you seen anyone like this around?"  
Leonard's shoulders stiffen, telling Joe all he needs to know.  
"Who is this, Len?" he asks him. When the teen doesn't answer, the detective guesses, "Is this Mick? That fire friend that 'visited' you at the house?"  
"Mick didn't steal whatever you're looking for," Leonard tell him seriously. "He's not even carrying anything in this photo. So unless it's on a chip or drive, he's just the patsy. You'll want to track that guy," the teen points to an older male, mid to late 40s, who's staring directly at Joe's suspect. "He's most likely following Mick to make sure you guys go after him."  
Joe turns the photo back to himself and takes a closer look. The second man is hiding something behind his back. It's difficult to tell what it is but it definitely has a strap, so either a backpack or something similar.  
"Why are you so convinced that your pal couldn't have stolen what I'm looking for by himself?" the detective asks next, turning his attention back to his kid. "Why do you think it's this random dude?"  
Leonard grins, "Mick's not the brightest guy you'll ever meet. He tends to veer more towards the smash and grab then the long, thought out schemes. But he's no idiot and he knows a tail when he sees one."  
"Besides," the teen taps a finger on the photo. "No one else is looking at him quite so intently as this shady 'dude'."  
Joe looks at the other faces in the picture and notes that Leonard is right. He's inwardly relieved and slightly ashamed of himself for even thinking that his kid was part of the theft.  
But there's still one thing to be explained, "So what did Mick come here to tell you?"  
Leonard fakes innocence as he raises an eyebrow.  
"I'm no idiot either," Joe puts the photo away. "I know he came here. He told you something and I want to know what it was."  
The teenager looks over his shoulder before crossing his arms over his chest. He looks off into the distance, maybe where his friend was standing earlier, but he doesn't say anything.  
"Len," Joe relaxes his stance, tries to appear as a friend more than a warden. "This is important. If Mick had anything to do with the robbery then you've got to tell me."  
"I owe Mick a big debt, detective," Leonard answers, eyes still staring at nothing.  
'Back to 'detective' instead of 'Joe', he notes in his head as he waits for the rest.  
The teenager lets out a breath. "But if you're going after him as secretively as you are, I'm worried he's gotten himself into something he might not be able to get himself out of," Leonard finally turns his full focus to Joe, "I'll take you to where he's hiding. IF you let me go with you."  
"I can't do that, Len," the detective frowns. "I'm under strict orders to keep this low profile and you've got time to serve."  
"I can serve it later," Leonard frowns, tone icing slightly. "You're not going to find him without me."  
"Is that so?" Joe puts his hands on his hips and looks down at the teen. "What makes you so sure about that?"  
"Because if you had any idea where you could find him," the kid smirks. "You would've left already to do that."  
'Smart aleck.' Joe sighs, knowing Leonard was right and not wanting to waste any more time arguing about it.  
"Fine," the detective waves at the officer to come back. "But you better do what I say when I say it, you got it?"  
"Yes, sir," Leonard nods, uncrossing his arms as 'the boss' approaches.  
"I've got to take him early today," Joe explains with a friendly smile. "Sorry to ruin your day, but it's important."  
"I see," the officer nods slowly, looking over at Leonard as if he could read the reason why on the teenager's face. "He'll lose out on the hours but I'll do the paperwork for you."  
"Thanks a lot," the detective is relieved when the other man doesn't put up a fight about it. "I really appreciate this."  
"Just makes us even for my rude introduction," the officer waves them off for a second before returning to his charges.

"So," Joe says after Leonard's removed the jumpsuit and they're in the car. "Where to?"  
"It's best if I give the directions one at a time," Leonard smirks. "There are a lot of twists and turns, and I like to get there my way."  
"Just remember who's in charge on this little mission," the detective frowns putting the car in gear. "I'm the one who's neck is on the line if this goes south."  
"I've got your back, Joe."  
As they drive away, Joe can't enjoy the feeling of hearing the teenager call him by his first name. He's too busy worrying over the bad feeling that intensifies in his gut.

\- - 

Downtown Central City was occasionally called 'the slums' and for good reason. Garbage littered the streets at random intervals and a few building looked so dilapidated that Joe worried they'd collapse as he drove passed them.  
The mayor was working to get the funding to 're-do' the area but the project was put on the back burner during the new election year coming around.  
"You know this place really well?" Joe asks worriedly as he slows down so as not to run over a mangy looking cat.  
"No," Leonard frowns, eyes scanning each building carefully. "But I knew a lot of people who do."  
"Are these people helping your friend hide out from the police?" Joe can't imagine many people sticking around such an awful place for very long.  
"No," Leonard sounds sad. "Most of them are dead now."  
"Sorry to hear that." Joe glances at the kid, notes the sad blue eyes and worried frown. Whoever this 'Mick' kid was, Leonard cared about him.  
"This is just a shortcut anyway," the teenager remarks, posture suddenly straightening. "Take the next right and follow the river to a warehouse with a 7, dash, A on it."

 

Warehouse 7-A holds the air of a formidable fortress as Joe parks the car off to the side. He gets out and looks around, frowning at the trash and debris still littering the area. Leonard is already walking towards the small side door and the detective jogs in order to cut him off.  
"Wait a minute," Joe tells the teen, arm blocking the entrance. "We need a plan."  
"Good idea," Leonard smirks, turning cool blue eyes to the adult. "How 'bout I go in, get Mick, and you wait out here?"  
"Try again," the detective scoffs. Like he's going to let the kid out of his sight.  
"Okay," the teen tilts his head, considering. "How 'bout we both go in, you stay by the door and wait while I get Mick and bring him to you?"  
"Try coming up with something that doesn't require you being out of my sight."  
There's a loud crash from inside of several things metallic falling to the ground. Joe puts a finger to his mouth as he grabs the handle with one hand and pulls out his gun with the other. His wrist is still sore from the blow from the pipe but he grips through the pain as they cautiously make their way into the warehouse and around the piles of leftover junk.  
"You double crossed me!" a young man's voice, possibly Mick's, is shouting. It echoes off the walls and reaches to Joe and Leonard as they try to find the source without making a sound.  
"I'm not the one who got caught on camera leaving Starling City!" an older man's voice, nasty and biting, shouts back. "You're an idiot!"  
"Say that again, Mueller!" the younger voice growls. "I dare you!"  
Joe and Leonard finally find the source of the voices as they hide behind a mismatched pile of old scrap metal. A brunette teenager, wearing the same outfit as the person from the photo, is glaring daggers to a man who has his back to their hidden audience.  
"What were you thinking talking to some punk in an orange jumpsuit?" the other man, 'Mueller' Mick called him, barks out a loud laugh. "You trying to get yourself caught? Because hanging out with people being monitored by the police is like handing yourself over on a silver platter!"  
"Well, maybe if you told me the WHOLE plan instead of stringing me along like an idiot, I would have known you were already here in Central City," Mick takes a threatening step closer to the older man. "You told me to come here to wait for you. THAT'S what I did. Then when you didn't show up right away? I went to someone I could trust."  
"Someone who is serving time cleaning up streets and feeding the homeless," Mueller growls. "I don't want to see you talking to anyone else until this has blown over."  
"What IS this?" Mick barks, opening his arms wide as if to encompass the building. "We're hiding out in the dumps of Central so you can what? Trade off your little backpack for money? What's in that thing anyway? Why did you even need me?"  
The older man's shoulders relax. That bad feeling in Joe's gut is making him sick.  
"You're right," Mueller laughs, reaching for something behind his back. His jacket rides up and Joe sees the gun. He tenses, waiting to jump out and announce himself. When he looks over to warn Leonard to stay put, the kid's already gone.  
'Where?'  
"Hold it right there," Leonard's voice orders the man icily.  
Joe turns back to the scene to see his kid pointing a piece of metal to Mueller's back as if he had a gun. Mueller seems convinced because he begins to pull his hands away.  
But just as Leonard reaches for the weapon, Mueller spins around and smacks the metal away.  
"YOU!" the older man shouts, taking a step back to pull out his gun and point it at Leonard. "You're that punk Mick went to talk to!"  
"Guilty," Leonard raises his hands, eyes darting over to Joe to probably warn him to stay hidden. "Why don't you let me and my friend here go? Then you can continue with whatever you've got cooking."  
"Yeah right," Mueller sneers, keeping his gun on Leonard as he looks around. "Anybody else here?!" he shouts out. Only his echo answers back.  
"I'm not in the position to be dragging friends around to dangerous areas," Leonard smirks. "It's just me. But if you don't let us go, there will be people looking for their long lost black sheep."  
"What do you mean?" Mueller growls, eyeing Mick who cautiously takes a small step closer.  
"I ran off during work hours," Leonard explains with a small shrug. "The government doesn't like it when their free labor boys take unscheduled leave. So you better let me head back before they start looking for me."  
Mueller laughs. Which is not a good sign.  
"They don't care about you, whoever you are," the older man smiles. "You're just some punk kid who got caught stealing from a candy shop. You're less important than the town drunk."  
"I suppose that means you think you can kill me and Mick?" Leonard's tone lowers dangerously. Joe feels a few goosebumps crawling on his skin. "Think again."  
Mueller grabs Leonard by the arm and puts the gun to his head.  
Joe's heart practically leaps out of his chest. Every fiber of his body wants to jump out and shout at the man to GET HIS MITTS OFF HIS KID!  
But Leonard's is holding up a finger just out of sight to the detective and he has to force himself to watch and see what the kid's trying to do.  
"The police are looking for you, but you already knew that," the teen says icily, eyes narrowing in anger. "They came to me after Mick did. Said that they were going to throw me in jail instead of letting me serve out my time outside if I didn't help them."  
Mueller's brows furrow in confusion, "So, how are you here?"  
"I told them a big fat lie, of course," Leonard smirks. "Then I snuck away and caught a ride here. The question is, are you willing to risk running into the road block they went to set up? Or are you going to let us go in exchange of me telling you where I sent them?"  
Mueller scowls, eyes darting from Mick to Len as he tries to figure out the kid's play. Joe takes a cautious step to the side, closer to the group if the man decides to kill the boys anyway.  
"Fine," the man shoves Leonard out of his grip. "Tell me where you sent them and you two can leave."  
"Like I'd trust a thief," the teenager scoffs. He raises a cellphone and Joe knows its his without even checking his pockets. "You let us out of here and I'll call you when we're safely away."  
"The heck you're leaving without telling me what I want to know!" Mueller bites back. "You'll just run away with your little pal and let me get arrested!"  
"Snart's a man of his word," Mick speaks up for the first time since his friend stepped in. "I've known him for a while. You can trust him."  
"I don't trust you either, punk!" Mueller shouts at Mick, pointing the gun at Leonard again. "Now tell me."  
Joe can't hold back anymore. Whatever Leonard was trying to do wasn't working. He steps around the metal, gun pointing at Mueller as he shouts, "CCPD! Hands up! You're under arrest!"  
"I knew it!" Mueller grabs Leonard and pulls him in front of himself as a human shield, gun held to the teenager's head. "Stay back, copper!"  
Now that he's around the pile of junk, Joe can see a black van parked near the other side of the warehouse by a gaping hole that must've been used as an entrance.  
"Careful with that gun, Mueller," the detective warns the man seriously. "You kill that boy, I'm gonna kill you."  
"This boy is my ticket out of here," Mueller grins, adjusting his grip to hold Leonard by the throat, gun still at the teen's head. "You better be careful, cop!"  
"Snart?" Mick asks, hands poised at his side, ready to run at the guy if his friend should call for it.  
"Let's all stay calm," Leonard says cooly, seemingly unaffected by the gun at his temple. Mueller starts pulling him backwards, towards the van.  
"I can't let you leave with him," the detective frowns, following after them, gun still trained on the other man's head. But he can't fire. There isn't a clear enough shot.  
"You can't stop me," Mueller grins, watching out for Mick when he passes him as he continues to walk to the van. "You know my last name but you don't know my reputation. I've killed over twenty men and half as many punk teens like this kid."  
They're halfway to the van now. Mueller keeps glancing behind to make sure he doesn't trip. Mick follows close to their side while Joe trails in front.  
'This is bad. I can't let him take Leonard into that van.' Joe's mind reels with all the possibilities. If only the teenager could move out of the man's arms and give Joe a clean shot.  
"Len," he tries to ask the boy with his eyes if he can get out of the other man's hold.  
Leonard locks eyes with him and gives him a finite shake of the head. There's a hard look in those eyes, determination and confidence instead of any signs of fear.  
'Something is still cooking in his head.'  
They're at the van now. Mueller will have to let go of Leonard or move the gun hand. Either way, he'll give Joe the opening he needs.  
"Mick," Mueller grins at the detective like he's read his mind. "Open the door."  
"I don't take orders from you," Mick growls.  
The man clicks the gun's hammer back. "I said, open the door."  
"Do it, Mick," Leonard says calmly, eyes still locked on Joe. "Then get inside so that you can drive."  
"Good idea, punk," Mueller chuckles. "We'll sit in the back, all comfy, while your little friend guides us out of the city."  
Mick growls deep in his chest as he moves over to the van and opens the side door.  
'No. No. NO. NO. NO.' Joe's palms are sweating. 'What can I do?'  
"Take me instead."  
Mueller pauses in his effort to pull Leonard into the van. Mick blinks over to him surprised but Leonard looks more annoyed than relieved.  
Joe raises his hands, carefully lowers his gun to the ground then lifts his jacket to show that he isn't carrying anything else.  
"I'm a police detective," he tells the criminal. "I can guide you out of the city better than the kids can. Take me instead."  
"If he takes you," Leonard drawls casually, still too calm for someone whose life is in danger. "Then when the police catch up with him, he won't have a very good bargaining chip."  
"What are you doing?" Joe frowns. Did the kid WANT to be taken hostage?  
"Anyone who works for the police is expendable in other officer's eyes," the teenager explains in the same casual tone. "When you hit a road block, they'll just fire at you."  
Mick gets in the van to start it up as he waits for Mueller to decide.  
The criminal seems to believe Leonard, because he resumes his efforts to pull the teenager into the back of the van. Leonard doesn't put up much of a fight.  
"If you take him, I will hunt you down," the detective tries to reason with the criminal one more time. "I won't rest until you're behind bars."  
"Not if you're dead."  
Mueller moves the gun away from Leonard and points it at Joe. The detective leaps out of the way as he hears it go off. The criminal curses wildly as the door slams shut and the van's wheels screech against the ground as they spin and take off out of the warehouse.  
Joe scrambles to his gun and tries to shoot out the tires, but the vehicle is already too far away. He burns the license plate into his brain as he runs for his own car.  
There's a blockade of garbage and junk blocking him from following after the criminal. Joe beats against his steering wheel as he helplessly watches the dust clouds of the van's escape swirl in front of him.

\- - -


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One more Chapter. Then a short Epilogue. (That I wrote during Chapter 8.) 
> 
> Any ideas what I'm going to do next?

Joe is going to tear the city apart to find his kid.  
He drove to the nearest diner to commandeer their phone and call for the license plate to be tracked. He didn't care what the general wanted anymore. Leonard was in danger and Joe was going to get him back.  
"I have every squad car keeping an eye out for your van, Joe, but..." his partner pauses on the line. "Why didn't you call in with your cell?"  
"Because Len-" Joe pauses as his mind clears and he smacks himself in the head. "Len has my phone!"  
"Your Juvie kid swiped your cell?" his partner repeats.  
"Track it," he orders instead of repeating himself. "Track my cell. I'm coming back to the station."  
Then he hangs up without listening for a reply.  
Joe drives faster than he should. In the back of his mind he's scolding the officers who haven't caught him but his focus is on Mueller and getting Leonard back.

Outside the station, he jerks his car into park and runs inside of the building.  
He goes straight for his partner's desk.  
"I can't track it unless we're connected to it," the other detective tells him, hands up and eyes wide as if Joe would hit him for saying that. "But don't worry, I have everything set up with your desk phone in case they call in or you wanna call out."  
'WHY isn't our technology any better?' Joe growls, pushing off the man's desk and going for his own. He needs to run Mueller's name. See if there are old hideouts listed on his arrest sheet or in officer reports.  
"WEST!" the Chief barks at him. "Get in my office!"  
"But, sir-"  
"NOW!"  
Joe really wants to tell his boss where to stuff it, but he can't waste time explaining everything, so he just goes to the man's office.  
He doesn't notice General Patton in the room until the man is right in front of him.  
"You didn't tell me that you had Leonard Snart under your care, Detective West," the military man frowns at him. "I'm going to have to pull you from this case."  
'The heck you are.' Joe gets into the man's space. "What does Leonard have to do with your missing missile plans?"  
Patton takes a small step back. "Separate sources have identified the ring leader of the theft to be James Mueller. A convicted murderer and veteran thief with a strong grudge against the government."  
"I still don't see how that has anything to do with my kid," Joe frowns, trying to keep the bite out of his voice.  
"Mueller's son, James Jr., served with young Snart in Juvie. They were seen talking to each other on the yard on several occasions," the General informs him. "We have reason to believe young Snart might be working with them."  
"I have a feeling." A bad feeling deep in his gut that's been bothering him since he met up with his foster son. "That I'm not the only person you have running around Central trying to find your precious papers."  
The General smirks. "With something so important, it's a wonder you'd think we'd solely rely on a detective to keep the country safe. No offense to your work, West, but those plans can literally re-shape the world."  
"Well maybe if the 'government' would stop making such plans, the world wouldn't be in peril to begin with," Joe growls, glaring at the man's haughty tone. "Now you listen to me. Leonard had nothing to do with this. He's been with me, in my house, under my care, since I took him in as a foster son. Other than his dad, the boy has no 'connections' to the criminal world. He isn't working with them."  
"Then where is he?" Patton's smirk turns into an obnoxious grin. "He isn't with his corrections officer, I checked. The officer said that you had him but I didn't see him when you came in."  
"Because Mueller abducted him at gun point and I've been wasting time talking with military grade morons!" Joe bellows, throwing the door open and stomping out of the Chief's office.  
His boss shouts out to him, "Get back in here WEST!"  
But he ignores him. If the military are going to write Leonard off as Mueller's cohort they won't hesitate to kill his kid if they find them first.  
Joe needs to make sure that doesn't happen.

He searches the database for a lead, half expects to have to fight off the general or his chief if they should stop him, but they don't bother him and he doesn't come up with much.  
There's only the address where they last arrested the guy.  
"Answer anyone who calls my desk and let me know if it's someone named James Muller, Mick Rory, or Leonard Snart," he tells his partner as he passes his desk.  
"How am I supposed to get in contact with you?" the man protests.  
"Radio!"  
Joe takes a police cruiser instead of his car.

 

The address leads him to a bar but there's no trace of the criminal and no one inside knows who Mueller is, so there's nothing more Joe can do there. He borrows the phone in the bar's back office to call home.  
"West residence, Captain Iris speaking," his daughter answers it on the second ring.  
"Hey, honey, it's dad." It takes a bit of effort, but Joe keeps his voice calm and natural. "Is Barry home with you?"  
"Sir, yes, sir," she chirps happily. "He's been combing through his legal book all day. I, on the other hand, did exactly as you ordered. I've got my books ready, my backpack-"  
"Iris," Joe frowns when he has to cut his daughter off. "Has Len called or shown up at the house?"  
"The lieutenant? No. Why would he?" Iris sounds worried. Before Joe can come up with a lie, she shouts away from the phone, "Barry! Something happened to Len!"  
He might have heard a curse, or seven, but his foster son's voice is too far away to tell.  
Joe forces a smile on his face as he starts to lie, "Iris, don't worry, it's not-"  
"Enough of that," his daughter takes her turn cutting him off. "I know when you're forcing a smile, daddy. Have known since mom ran off. Even when I can't see it, I can HEAR it. I know that something's off, so you might as well tell us."  
'Stupid smart kids.' Joe covers the receiver, takes a deep breath.  
"Daddy..." Iris warns him slowly. Then her voice softens, "Please, we're just worried."  
"Len will be fine," he decides to ignore the issue, for now. He doesn't need his other two kids running around the city trying to find a dangerous murderer. "I need you two to stay home. Keep an eye out for him and wait by the phone in case he calls."  
"If he does call?" Barry's voice asks, more worried than Iris's was.  
"Then call the station and tell them to tell me," Joe orders. "Have them direct you to my partner and don't take no for an answer."  
"As if I'd let them tell me no," Iris huffs. Joe doesn't feel particularly encouraged by that statement but doesn't comment.  
"Did he run away again?" Barry asks next, voice tight with some controlled emotion.  
"No, he didn't," Joe assures them. "He just got caught up in something. But I'm going to get him back out of it."  
"Be safe daddy!" his daughter cheers to him. "And bring both your butts home safely so I can lecture Lenny for you!"  
"Thanks, baby girl," the detective laughs a little at his daughter's enthusiasm. "I will."  
He hangs up, thanks the bartender for the phone, and goes back to the cruiser.  
Time to drive around some more like a maniac.

 

Joe shakes every tree he can find. He runs down all his CI's and a few of his partner's. He drives by popular 'drop offs' for criminal cars or body drops.  
As the time flies by, Joe's patience wears thin and his anxiety spikes.  
'Why did Leonard let Mueller take him?' His traitorous brain speaks up after another dead end. 'Why didn't he at least TRY to fight?'  
The warehouse scene runs and re-runs itself in the back of Joe's head as he continues to search. He checks in with other cruisers to see if they've seen the van, but there's still annoyingly nothing.  
Then, on a whim, Joe drives back to the warehouse to see if there was anything he missed.

The dilapidated area is swarming with military police.

Joe gets out of the cruiser and approaches the man standing by the caution tape.  
"What's going on here?" he asks, putting a commanding tone to his voice.  
"Classified," the MP tells him, barely bothering to even glance at the detective. "You're going to have to move out of the way, officer."  
"I'm a police detective," Joe shows the man his badge. "And this is my case. General Patton put me on it."  
"The General gave strict orders that you should be sent away if you should arrive," the MP actually does fully look at the detective now. "Please leave without making a scene, sir."  
'I'll show you a 'scene'.' Joe's hackles rise as he prepares to strong arm his way passed the younger man. But his train of violence is cut short by the sound of his radio cackling.  
"This isn't over," he warns the MP, moving back to the cruiser to see who's trying to contact him.  
He gets into the cruiser and dives away from the warehouse for better radio strength. When an actual voice starts coming through, he pulls over and confirms from his end.  
"West, here," he tells the walkie. "Who's this?"  
"Your partner, partner," the voice answers back. "Your daughter called looking for you, gave me a run for my money when I couldn't convince her that I would recite her message word for word."  
"What's the message?" Joe asks, not bothering to apologize for his daughter. He had told her to be pushy.  
"I wrote it down," his partner remarks then, "10-4 on the homestead. Bring pizza."  
'Pizza?' Joe frowns. 'Of all the times to-Wait.'  
He smiles, thanking his partner quickly as he pulls away from the curb and races back home.  
'10-4' simply means 'yes, I understand your message' in general Citizen's Band slang. His daughter, or maybe even Barry, must have looked that up. And he can only guess that she used 'pizza' as a code word that everyone was home for dinner.  
'Everyone' which means Len as well.  
Joe pushes a little harder on the accelerator, turning on the sirens as he leaves 'the slums'.

 

Joe cuts the sirens, then the lights a few blocks away from home. He doesn't want to broadcast his arrival in case things were more dangerous then he thought.  
After all, last he saw Leonard, the boy was being held hostage by Mueller. What if the man had come back to Joe's house and was now holding his other two kids captive as well?  
As he slams the car into park, the detective briefly wonders if he should have called for back-up.  
But then he's suddenly in his house and there's no time for any more thinking.

 

Barry and Iris jump up from the couch, turning scared eyes to Joe before they recognize him and relax with smiles. Leonard stands next, a bit too stiffly for Joe's liking, and he turns to the detective with a blank look.  
"How?" The word tumbles out of Joe's mouth before he can even think to say it.  
"It's a long story," Leonard tells him in a monotone, body rigid and expression still blank. "Do you want to know it now, or wait until we go to the station?"  
"Where's Mueller?" Joe frowns. 'Why is he acting like this?'  
"Dead," the teen says, unblinking, unfazed by the meaning of the word.  
"Where's the body?" the detective asks next, closing the door that was still ajar from his entrance.  
"In the van, parked at that abandoned lot a few blocks over."  
Joe's starting to think he's talking to a robot instead of his kid.  
"Why are you talking like that, Lenny?" Iris asks softly. She clearly didn't care for the way the teen was acting either.  
"I want to thank you all for everything you've done for me." Something in the boy's eyes glimmers but it swiftly dies away. "But I think this is the part where I go back to prison."  
"You're not going anywhere until you give me the whole story," Joe orders firmly, pointing at his kids to take a seat. "From the beginning."  
Leonard nods and takes his seat again, Barry and Iris following suit as Joe rounds the couch to sit on the coffee table.

"Mick took off in the van while Mueller barked orders," Leonard explains, eyes pointed passed Joe as he continues to act like a robot. "He took us to the docks to get his backpack with the missile plans then he slipped and fell on a wooden crate that split his head open and killed him."  
"How did you know there were missile plans in the backpack?" Joe asks.  
"I looked."  
"Missile plans?" Iris's eyes go big. "Like in the movies? Where are you hiding the stinkin' missiles?"  
"Most likely plans for intelligent missiles," Barry guesses.  
"Why should any of that get you a ticket back inside?" the detective narrows his eyes to the teen when he doesn't get an answer. "Where's Mick and how did the van get to that lot?"  
"Mick escaped," Leonard shrugs. "He just took off."  
'Or you let him get away.' Joe takes a deep breath. "Len."  
"The backpack is upstairs in my room," the boy continues, icy eyes turning to burn into Joe's very soul. "I know the system, detective. I'm a punk with a record. The death was an accident but I knew Mueller's kid and they'll just pin this on me anyway."

Barry smacks Leonard on the back of his head.

Joe and Iris stare in surprise at the brunette as he gets to his feet, cheeks faintly pink and eyes stormy.  
"Why are you so quick to give up?" Barry grounds out angrily to the other boy. "You were abducted and yet you still managed to get the stolen plans back from the man who took them. But you're going to roll over and let people blame you for his accidental death before they even know there's a body?"  
Leonard smooths his hair down carefully as he refuses to look at the other teen.  
"It wasn't an accident, was it, Len?" Joe asks quietly as the realization dawns on him. "Mick hit him and killed him, didn't he?"  
"I have the right to remain silent," is all his kid says in reply.  
"Stop acting all cold and stupid!" Iris orders, getting to her feet like Barry to glare at their foster brother. "Why are you letting your match crazy friend get away while you take all the blame?"  
"I take care of my own," Leonard shrugs, some of the stiffness leaving his shoulders but his eyes returning to stare at nothing.  
"Is that why you convinced Mueller not to trade for me?" Joe asks, getting the answer in the boy's twitch of a grin. "I'm a trained police detective, Len. Not to mention your foster father. I'm supposed to take care of you, not the other way around."  
"I met Mueller Jr. in Juvie," Leonard's shoulders sink a touch more, head bowing to stare at his hands now. "He raved about how many cops his dad put in the hospital and in the ground."  
"You let Mueller take you so that Joe would be kept safe?" Barry clarifies, a look of pride widening his smile. "That's amazing, Len."  
"Amazingly foolish," Joe growls, stomping on the idea of similar actions being repeated. "You threw yourself into that situation and could have gotten yourself killed."  
"Mueller didn't have the plans on him," Leonard sinks a little deeper into the cushions. "It's a common practice for high valued items, never bring them to a meet. Especially ones you intend to off your partner in."  
The teen gets to his feet, jumping over the back of the couch to get away from the others in the room.  
"Mueller was going to kill Mick, I stepped in. Mueller was going to kill me, Mick stepped in. I got the plans, Mick took off. I brought the van to the abandoned lot and brought the plans here. Now," Leonard takes a deep breath, re-straightens his shoulders to look at the three frowns aimed at him. "Can we dismiss this family meeting so that the military can throw me back in prison?"  
"There you go again," Joe stands with the rest of his family. "Just like the day I met you. You're just chomping at the bit to go back to Juvie. Why?"  
"Because all I ever do is cause trouble for people," the teen growls a little, fists clenching at his sides. "Ever since I got here, all I've done is cause you problems. You don't deserve it."  
"And you deserve to be in prison?" Iris huffs. "For someone so clever, you're an utter moron."  
"Family doesn't give up on each other just because one of them keeps running into problems," Barry agrees, tone firm and unmoving. "They stand together and support each other. You are family and we're going to help you through this even if we have to fight you to do it."  
Joe smiles at the stunned look his wayward teen is sporting now. No more still body language and cold eyes. Just open amazement as he stares at the two other teens.  
"They're right," the detective pats Barry and Iris on the shoulder before walking over to Leonard. "I'm going to take you back to the station where we'll give your statement together."  
"Accessory after the fact will get me 16 month or 2-3 years," Leonard tells them as he recovers from his shock with a frown. "Even if you can manage to keep me outside, it'll take me forever to serve that much time in community service."  
"Then it's a good thing we like you," Joe shrugs, turning the teen to the door.  
"We're coming too!" Iris shouts out, running around the couch and out the door before her father can protest.  
"We'll just follow after if you don't drive us," Barry informs the older man as he pauses by him to chase after his foster sister.  
The two break out into a loud 'discussion' over who would sit where when they make it to the police cruiser.  
Joe sighs at the sight, locking the door as Leonard waits for him on the porch.  
The teen frowns, "Maybe prison would be better."

-


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I was 'going to' wait until tomorrow to post this but then I remembered how impatient I am and TADA!!!

At the station, Joe finds the General, once again, talking with the Chief in the man's office.  
'Doesn't he have anywhere else to be?'  
"Wait at my desk," he orders Barry and Iris, glaring at them when they open their mouths to protest.  
With a 'harrumph' from his daughter and a meaningful look to Leonard, the two teenagers do as ordered.  
"You found him!" Joe's partner congratulates him as he enters the room. "I suppose I should call off that manhunt now?"  
"Yeah," the detective had forgotten about that. "I know where the van is. Can send some cars over to secure the scene?"  
"Sure thing," his partner shrugs. He looks over to Leonard as Joe writes down the address. "You had the old man sweating like a sinner, ya know. Maybe you should give him a break for a while?"  
Leonard smirks with a shrug, eyes trailing over to the shadowy figures hashing something out behind the closed office door.  
"Here," Joe hands the address over. "Make sure they don't approach it. Just seal the place off until they hear from me or the military police."  
"You get all the weird ones, Joe," the other detective laughs, going to his desk.  
Joe leads Leonard the rest of the way to the Chief's door.  
He looks to his kid, "You ready?"  
"Does it matter?" Leonard looks back at him.  
"Guess not." Joe takes a breath and opens the door.

-

The General is surprised to see the teenager not in handcuffs and standing by a proud looking detective. Leonard retells his story in a more succinct fashion than he did at the house as both the Chief and Patton listen intently to every word. Joe notes that instead of saying Mick's name, the teen references to his friend as 'the other guy.'  
"...After the other guy ran off, I put Mueller's body in the back of the van and drove it to an abandoned lot near the detective's house," Len finishes, glancing over to Joe for a moment. "I knew I could trust him to handle the sensitive materials since you already put him on the case."  
General Patton shakes his head in disbelief, "You want me to believe that you were taken against your will by a man you confess to knowing. Then accidentally let his partner escape before running to your foster father?"  
"I don't care what you believe," Leonard tells the man icily. "It doesn't change what the truth is."  
"I've got the plans," Joe lifts the backpack that he nabbed before they left. "I checked it. The plans, or what looks like plans to a layman like myself, are still in there. Untampered with from what I can tell, too."  
"I'll be the judge of that," Patton takes the backpack and opens it on the Chief's desk. He rummages around in it for a while then his face breaks into a small smile as his shoulders relax in relief. "They're here. And I think you're right about the tampering, West. There's a seal on them that looks to be unbroken."  
"So," the General continues. "We just need to throw this boy back in jail where he belongs and wrap up Mueller's body for transport. Where did you say it was?"  
Leonard's body visibly stiffen as he glares at the ground. Joe's anger boils beyond normal levels.  
"What do you mean, 'where he belongs'?" the detective barks in a demanding tone, uncaring how loud he is. "My kid just saved your sorry hide by getting those plans back. And to thank him, you're going to toss him in jail like a crook?"  
"Accessory after the fact," the military man states simply, eyes narrowing at Joe. "I'd think a well trained detective of the Central City Police Department would know that."  
"Len got out of there to bring me those top secret papers," Joe growls. "Would you have preferred he left them, unguarded, at the docks?"  
"He didn't need to drag a dead body into the van," Patton scoffs. "One good deed does not mean that the boy goes unpunished for allowing his friend to escape."  
"Why you-"  
The door slams open and Iris appears in the doorway, "Hold it right there, mister!"  
The fourteen year old stomps up to the decorated General and shoves an accusing finger in the man's face, "How dare you talk about my brother like that!"  
Barry slides into the room as well and closes the door behind him with loud slam.  
'Kids know how to make an entrance.' Joe stares at his daughter as she continues on.  
"He risked his life saving someone. Then did it again to keep my father safe. Then, you ungrateful blowhard, he nabbed your papers, caught your man, and delivered them to you in a van shaped platter!"  
"Who is this?" General Patton barks to the Chief.  
"I am Captain Iris West," Iris growls, stomping her foot dangerously close to the General's. "Daughter of Detective West and ranking officer over Leonard and Barry. Who do YOU think YOU are?!"  
"I am General Patton of the United States Air Force," the military man growls. "I order you to take a step back, young lady. Before I have you tossed in a cell for a few hours to cool off."  
"On what charge?" the girl scoffs. "Telling the truth to a windbag who doesn't know a good person when they walk into the same room as them?"  
"Iris," Joe warns his daughter as the General's face begins to redden. "I think you made your point."  
"I have not yet begun to make my point!" Iris growls.  
"Leonard Snart is a felon with a record," Patton leans into the young lady's space as his temper flares. "He's currently serving time for theft, so why should I believe that he wasn't part of this whole thing to begin with?"  
"If Len was involved, he wouldn't have brought the plans back to Detective West," Barry speaks up before his foster sister can. He takes a step closer when he sees he has the General's attention. "He had the plans. Mueller was no longer a danger to him, physically or financially if you take the black market sale of the plans into consideration. If he was involved, he would have run away and sold the papers to the highest bidder. Not come to the police in order to turn them, and himself, in."  
"Bad Guy 101," Iris rolls her eyes. "Take the money and run."

The room goes silent.

Joe swallows as slowly as he can manage as his eyes dart from his kids to the General and occasionally to his boss.  
The Chief is sitting in his chair, looking like his wife had just told him she went shopping with her girlfriends again.  
The General's jaw is clenched so tightly, that Joe worries the man might break it.

Just as the silence becomes almost unbearable, the Chief speaks up, "I think it would be best if you took the teenagers home, Joe."  
The detective is surprised and it must show on his face because his boss adds, "The military police are taking over the case, under my supervision. You'll need to file a report and take a formal statement from Len, but that can be done later." He smiles at Barry and Iris with kind eyes. "I think these two made some very interesting points that the General and I need to discuss."  
"You know my house number," Joe smiles in thanks to his boss as he herds his kids out of the room. "I need to get a new cell."  
"Just enjoy your night," the Chief waves them off. "And close my door on your way out!"

-

The drive home is quiet. Joe has switched back to his own vehicle but Barry and Iris didn't even protest as Leonard took the front seat. They simply looked at each other worriedly as they got into the back.

When they all got home, Leonard was the first one out of the car and in the house.

Joe, Iris and Barry catch up to him in the living room where the teenager is pacing back and forth, one hand covering his mouth as his eyes dart around wildly.  
"Lenny?" Iris approaches the other teen carefully, as if he was a wounded animal. "You okay there, bro?"  
Leonard freezes in his pacing, blue eyes turning to the source of the question as his hand falls away from his mouth.  
"What is wrong with you people?"  
"We're grotesquely optimistic," Iris answers without missing a beat. "What's wrong with you?"  
"I'm naturally pessimistic," Leonard returns just as quickly. Then he grins warm and blindingly genuine at them. "You know what they say. Opposites attract."  
The other three can't help but smile as well.  
"I say we celebrate with a feast fit for the kings and queen we are!" Iris announces running for the kitchen. "Len! You'll have to cook. You still have to make it up to dad for getting yourself abducted."  
"And we all know you can only make toast," Barry adds with a chuckle.  
"For now," his foster sister rolls her eyes. "But, you HAVE to admit. It's the best darn buttered bread that you've ever eaten."  
"We HAVE to admit that?" Joe repeats sarcastically. "What happens if we tell the truth?"  
"I didn't know the butter had gone sour," his daughter growls, pulling out random food from the refrigerator as the others join her in the kitchen. "I was too busy singing to notice the color was off."  
"Green tends to be a sure sign of something gone wrong," Barry snickers, ducking when Iris throws a container at his head. "Hey!"  
"No throwing food, Iris," Joe lightly scolds his daughter. He looks at the pile of mismatched leftovers on his counter. "How 'bout a potluck?"  
"I'd prefer a pot of lucky gold," Iris grins when she lands a smack on Barry's head with a spatula. "But I'll settle for any food that tastes good."  
"We could make a pot top pie with these ingredients," Len offers, looking into a bowl of mixed vegetables. "Are there any cans of creamed chicken?"  
"Two!" Barry announces, taking them out of the cabinets.  
"And I found biscuits!" Iris cheers, taking the cans out of the fridge next. "What's a pot top pie? Is that lazy talk for pot pie?"  
"Why do they even call it a pot pie if it's in a pan?" Barry wonders aloud as he searches for the can opener.  
"Pot top pie is when you have all the random fixings on the bottom," Leonard explains with a slight hand movement. "And a bread layer on the top."  
"Then shouldn't it be called 'top pot pie'?" Iris aks, pulling out the right pan for the job.  
Leonard shrugs, "I didn't invent it, so I didn't name it."  
"One can always re-name things," Iris nods confidently, as if her saying it made it a fact.  
"I'll turn on the oven," Joe walks over to the appliance as his kids keep moving around according to Len's directions.  
He moves out of their way to watch from the back door. His own perfect little world.

Until.

"BARRY!" Iris nearly screams, flour covering her front.  
"I didn't see you, I swear!" the brunette lifts his flour coated hands in surrender as he takes a careful step back.  
"We'll see about that when I'm through with you!" his daughter grabs a handful of flour and begins to chase after her foster brother with vengeance on the brain.  
Joe groans at the loss of peace.  
"Iris."  
"Iris!"  
"IRIS!"

\---

The next morning, Joe finds his kids playing cards at the dining room table. They've got piles of different cereals next to each of them and there's a mixture of the food in a larger pile at the center.  
He also smells coffee, so he goes for that first before trying to understand.  
"I raise," Barry says, tossing three colorful circles into the middle pile.  
"I fold," Iris sighs, popping a piece from her pile into her mouth.  
"You can't win if you eat your earnings," the brunette smiles at his foster sister.  
Iris shrugs, "Lenny's going to win most of it anyway. Might as well eat what I want while I've got it."  
"Call," Leonard says, placing his cards down. "Three aces."  
"Told you," Iris sighs, eating another piece of cereal.  
Barry smiles, putting his own cards down, "Straight beats three of a kind."  
Leonard whistles as the other teenager takes the pot. "Nicely done, Barry. I'm impressed."  
Now that there's caffeine in his system, Joe asks, "Are you guys playing poker?"  
"Only because the boys got jealous that I kept winning at blackjack," Iris smiles at her father. "Morning, daddy!"  
"Ahuh," Joe rubs a hand over his face before adding. "Didn't I say I didn't want anything illegal happening in my house?"  
"It's only illegal if you play for money," Barry points out, pausing in his sorting to look at the detective. "It's just a card game."  
'Soon they'll all gang up on me.' Joe shakes his head at them. He'll let this one slide.  
"Don't let me catch you playing in any casinos or setting up a card shark scheme on the side," he warns them as he goes for a second cup. It's just one of those days. "I will have you scrub this house with a toothbrush."

-

The doorbell rings. The teenagers are busy cleaning up after lunch, so Joe answers it.  
General Patton is standing on the other side.  
Joe's heart sinks as he steps out of the way for the man to enter, "General."  
Patton removes his hat and looks the place over as he enters the house. He catches sight of the teenagers and frowns.  
The detective quickly glances outside for waiting police cruisers, but only sees the General's car and a single, waiting MP standing by it.  
"I've come to an agreement with your Chief," the General announces gruffly as he turns his focus to the detective. "We won't be charging young Snart with anything concerning this case. The military don't want this to go to court if it doesn't have to."  
"Good," the weight on Joe's heart lifts as he smiles in relief. "But you didn't have to come all this way to tell me that."  
"No," Patton smirks a little, eyes moving over to the teenagers who are barely pretending not to watch them from the dining room. "I've come with an offer for Snart."  
All pretense at not listening in go out the window as Iris and Barry follow Leonard over to the General.  
"What can I do for you?" the teenager asks, arms crossing over his chest defensively.  
"I checked over your service hours," Patton straightens a little. "You've got almost seven months of community service left."  
"I've been a little busy," Leonard remarks guardedly. "What does it matter to you?"  
"How would you like to serve out your time doing something else?"  
"Like what?"  
"Like joining the Air Force."  
"What?" four voices chorus. The General doesn't even bat an eye to the synchronized shock.  
"Programs of troubled teens joining military groups to serve out their time, or to avoid it altogether, have been started and disbanded for years," Patton informs them with a bit of a smirk. "I happen to know the administrator for one of those programs and am willing to put in a good word that is guaranteed to get Snart accepted."  
"Will the amount of time he has to serve be the same as his community service?" Barry asks.  
"Yes," the General nods. "It's a trade out. Instead of doing long hours of mediocre work, the boys learn the military trade and gain all the positive characteristics that come with it."  
"Will he be stationed at a base?" Joe asks, brain calculating the closest air base.  
"Where the boys are sent is up the administrator and the instructors," Patton shakes his head curtly. "It will depend on where there's an opening. I can't guarantee that Snart would be in the same state once they place him."  
"How long do I have to decide?" Leonard speaks up for himself.  
"I'm heading back tonight," the General almost sounds apologetic. "I can give you a few minutes to think it over, but I'll need to know right away."  
Leonard nods and runs up to his room to think, Barry and Iris on his tail.  
"Make yourself comfortable," Joe offers as he moves to follow his kids. "I don't think this will take long."  
"It better not," Patton frowns, staying exactly where he was.  
'Suit yourself.' Joe runs upstairs.

"Your Juvie records will be sealed and you'll have military experience to add to your resume when you get back," Barry is telling Leonard when Joe arrives at the impromptu meeting.  
"You'll get to learn all their awesome code words and teach them to us as well," Iris smiles. "Then we can poke fun of the movies when they use the jargon incorrectly.  
Leonard looks over to Joe and locks eyes with him. "What about Lisa?"  
Joe hadn't thought of that.  
"Dad'll figure out a way to get her here," Iris announces for her father. "Maybe we can do a trade? One Snart to the military for the other in here?"  
"People aren't trading cards, Iris," Barry frowns in disapproval. "Lisa should get a choice in the matter."  
"I don't even know if it's possible to move her out of her current foster home," Joe points out. "The Child Protective Services don't go around handing out kids like candy."  
"Lisa's not a kid, is she?" Iris asks Leonard. "Isn't she more around your age?"  
"She's five years younger than me," Leonard shrugs.  
"So I'm older than her?" Iris gets a scheming twinkle to her eye. "Interesting."  
"I'll talk to CPS," Joe puts a calming hand on his daughter's shoulder. "But what's most important right now is what YOU want, Len."  
Leonard take a breath, runs a hand through his hair then takes another breath.  
The teen rests his hands on his hips and smiles at them, "I'm getting tired of the same old same old. And if I'm miles away, at least things will be a little less hectic here."  
"I doubt it," Joe chuckles, knowing the trouble Barry and Iris could get in or cause.  
"Especially once we get Lisa to join our merry little family," Iris giggles. She suddenly gasps, "I've got an idea!"  
"This can't be good," Barry mumbles, hiding a smile behind his hand.  
"When we write to you, because I will not allow the military grouch to take you without making him send us an address when you get settled, we should use code words instead of our names."  
"He's not joining black ops, Iris," Joe rolls his eyes. His daughter had quite the creative flair.  
"You never know who might be listening in," his daughter states seriously. "I'll be Reporter, Dad will be Badge, Barry can be Nerd and Len will be Cold."  
"Why those names?" Barry asks, frowning at his foster sister's choices.  
"Because I've recently decided that I'm going to be a reporter some day, Dad has a badge, you're always hitting the books and Len's eyes were like ice when he first came to live here."  
"I like it," Leonard smirks. "I think it suites me."  
"You better pack up," Joe frowns when he hears a loud clearing of the throat coming from downstairs. "I think the General is losing his patience."  
"I'll go stall grouch," Iris quickly wraps Leonard up in a hug. "You guys give him a man pep talk."  
She releases the other teen from her arms before rushing down the stairs.  
Barry moves to hug Leonard as well, but is blocked by a glare. So he settles for a hand shake instead.  
"Be safe," the brunette smiles. "I'll make sure to keep an eye on your sister for you while you're gone."  
"Thank, Barry," Leonard smiles back.  
Barry leaves the room and joins his foster sister downstairs, leaving Joe alone with Leonard as he begins to pack up his things.  
"It seems like only yesterday I brought you here," Joe sighs. "But at the same time, it's like you've always been here."  
"Time is a funny thing," Leonard drawls, dropping the few things he owned into his backpack before zippering it up. He slings one strap over his shoulder before looking up at the detective. "Thank you, Joe."  
"For what?"  
"Everything," the teenager shrugs. "Bailing me out. Giving me a chance to change my life around when no one else even bothered to look at me twice."  
"I might've given you the chance, but it was up to you to make the change," he smiles. "You're always welcome here, Len. Whenever you need a place to stay or someone to talk to. I'm here," he chuckles when he hears the other two's voices. "We're here."  
Leonard chuckles a little with him, "There's no place like home."

 

\---


	17. Epilogue

"Captain Cold!" The Flash calls out to the man standing on the other side of the air stripe.   
"Actually," The other man turns to the hero, "It's Major. I just got my promotion."  
"Really?" the speedster runs to pull the other man into a hug. Two blinks later, the hero pulls back to stand in front of the other. "Congratulations!"  
"Thanks," Len grins. "But I thought we agreed to one second hugs."  
"You're going away on a super-secret solo mission," Barry shrugs. "I thought that called for an extra second hug."  
"Fine," his foster brother sighs, opening his arms wide. "But only five seconds, got it?"  
"For real?" the hero smiles, surprised.  
"Don't make me change my mind," Len warns, lowering his arms slightly with the threat.  
Barry has him wrapped back up in a hug a nano-second later.   
Len lowers his arms and returns it.  
"Be safe out there, Len," Barry whispers to his foster brother. "I need you to come back home."  
"That's the plan," Len smirks, pulling away seven seconds later. "I'll be seeing you, Red."  
He starts to walk away, but then turns back to order the younger man, "Take care of our sisters."  
Barry salutes Len the way he taught him, "Sir, yes, sir!"  
Len salutes him back, "Dismissed!"

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do NOT own the TV series "The Flash" nor do I own its fantastic characters.


End file.
